A Traveler's Guide to the Multiverse: Earth-001
by MuaveineProse
Summary: I remember Hermione once telling me that I had a 'saving people thing,' and now more than ever that's evident to me. Three days in this reality, a place I was supposed to only chart for Hermione's possible tourism venture, and I'm already making plans to fixing. But what can I do? With villains and monsters running rampant, and the world barely hanging on?
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

"Okay," she said and she looked a little dishevelled as she looked to her notes; the piece of parchment stretched out just to her side and the quill waiting on her words. "Wands, cloak, clothes, food, tents, gold, water—though you could probably conjure that if you…Wand? Oh, yes, I did—"

"Hermione," I interrupted, and there was a small smile on me as I watched her expression clear out. It shouldn't have made me smile, that her brow was starting to crease, her hands were wringing together and there was just so much sadness in her eyes.

Old habits die hard, as the expression went, and it wasn't often these days with thing generally being good. But there were still the times where thoughts flooded my mind that I couldn't be loved, that I was a freak—

I cut the thoughts of, instead focusing on the present. I was still smiling, though by an extra quirk in Hermione's eyes I could see that my smile wasn't as bright.

"It's going to be fine. You've been testing this so long that nothing's going to happen to me—"

"But we can't truly be sure of that," she said. "This is one of the first times we've done it to a living person and magic can be temperamental. You know this."

"I do," I said.

"You being there might mean something, that it's a wizard might mean something, for all I know the number of syllables in your name could matter and they could throw off our calculations," she said, almost all in one breath. She quickly shook her head. "I think this might not be the best of ideas. There's still more testing we could do, this project is still in its infancy—"

"And the number of people invested in it are already starting to pull back," said Angelica. The woman on the short side, her hair tide in a neat bun and wearing robes that were similar to Hermione and pretty everyone around us.

We were in a patch of forest that had been cleared by Hermione's people. We were a long way away from Hogsmeade, a fact that Hermione had said was attributing for any error that might occur in the process. Splinching was easy to fix, now, unlike a few years ago, but with me being the only wizard _there,_ that would all be for nought if I was rendered unconscious.

"We need this if we want to be able to continue," she said. "We were lucky that Mr Potter volunteered to be the first to take the leap."

"Harry has always been foolhardy," Hermione under her breath, a scowl directed in my direction.

I shrugged. "Dumbledore really sold me on the whole living life to its fullest thing," I said, pushing bravado into the comment. It wasn't the only I felt, but it was there and that was enough.

This was big and it was dangerous, but more than anything it was exciting. I was going to be the first person in _this_ world to make the leap—Hermione had said, in infinite probabilities that there was an absolute chance that someone else had already skipped through the barrier between realities, but the chances that I might leap into the same world were extremely, _extremely_ small.

It could be dangerous. Sure, I knew that the world I was headed towards had the requirements to sustain life, but this was still a test where _people_ were concerned. There was no reason to think that anything could go wrong, but things almost always found ways to go wrong.

Another stream of thoughts and I pushed it aside, choosing instead to let myself focus on the excitement and the stream of emotions that came along with it. For three months while exploring the next world I'd be away from my friends, which was sad, I'd be away from Teddy and Andromeda, but I would also be away from the pressure of being me.

A mixed bag, sure, but when I looked at the grander whole, going to another world felt better.

"And me being foolhardy is one of the things you love about me," I said with a large grin that I hoped would be reminiscent of Sirius.

It must have worked because Hermione let out a long sigh and pressed a hug around me. "I will miss you," she said.

"I'll miss you too, Hermione," I said into her shoulder. "All of you."

She sniffed a little as she pulled back. "Remember, call me the second that you land. If we've off shot then you should activate the return Key with the mental phrase—"

"I know," I said. "I remember sitting through Richard's laborious lecture."

She shook her head. "It worries that you thought of it like that," she said and she looked at Angelica. "If it's anything like all that he learned from History of Magic class then I think we should really give him a refresher course. It might be for the best anyway, Harry's a practical learner and the course was a week ago, and—"

The sound of a crack in the periphery interrupted her. It wasn't long after that Ron became visible from beyond the trees. He quickly waded through other witches and wizards until he was next to us, he let out a long-relieved breath.

"Thank Merlin I caught you," he said. He reached into his robes and pulled out a box. "Wanted to give you this. Open it when you get there, yeah?"

"Yeah," I said. Hermione seemed to find it a little easier then to let me go, digging herself into Ron's side as they were forced to clear the clearing. The others moved too, wands in hand and most of them with parchment and quills floating beside them; there were also recording devices all around me floating in the air, though they too kept their distance.

I walked into the middle of the clearing towards a dark obelisk that had a small silver ball on top of it, goblin great metal, the only think with the magical properties to be able to handle the strain of a return trip to another reality. With a last wave at my friends, and a breath outward I took the ball and felt hook embed itself into my navel and then yank me away from everything.

888

There was a discomfort there I hadn't expected, not from the hook that had stuck itself deeply in my navel, instead there had been something _there._ An instant in my travels and all at once I'd felt pressure in front of me, as though I was being pulled towards something only something else keeping me back.

And then it was gone.

The world around me was awash with shades of blue, long rectangular lines that fit together into something that made me think I was having an acid trip. Trying to take it in all at once and my head pounded, as though I was trying to figure out how to unlock old enchantments without a guide. I pulled back a little, instead focusing on a section to try and make sense of it.

There was a picture there, tinted with blue light but revealing a dark forest; the neighbouring picture was the same; and then next one; and the next one; and the next one; and the next until all at once it wasn't: There were no trees but a mound of snow that was so large it looked like a mountain; a sprawling city that was made of a grey stone; a woman running with a horde of Inferi chasing after her; a dragons clashing through the air with people atop them; a face that was made of darkness and was looking directly at me; a large castle that looked like it was a mesh of wood and stone; a mountain that was coming alive—

And then I was the hook disappeared and I was thrown into another world with a stumble. Immediately my wand was in my hand and my eyes scanning around me. So much I'd seen and it was likely that this might be another world that had the same dangers I'd seen while travelling.

"Lu—" I started before I stopped. I was in a forest and it was dark, but that didn't mean nothing dwelt in that darkness that might jump at me if I flooded the area with light.

 _Or sound for that matter,_ I thought and internally chided myself. All that Auror training and I wasn't using it.

I tapped myself thrice, making sure that I couldn't be seen, couldn't be heard and couldn't be smelled. I pointed my wand towards my rucksack and with a gesture the broom within jumped out. I got on while mentally intoning a Human Revealment Charm and quickly after the more general variant that would detect non-humans, all while moving into the air.

A lot of bugs. A lot of snakes. A lot of squirrels. Some deer. Some wolves… A lot of animals in general but none near my person.

The important part was that there were no people.

A swish and balls of blue fire lit and hung in the air, with another motion I pushed them out so that I could better see where I was: It was a forest, extraordinarily old judging by how large the trees had grown. Above me there was no moonlight, only the twinkling of the stars, all of which did nothing to illuminate the night.

 _Phase One,_ I thought, the boring lessons coming to the fore. _Protection._

I cleared a portion of the forest by transfiguring the growth of the foliage so that it gave me a little space. Then I put up protective enchantments, enough that they might stop dragon fire long enough that I might be able to run—though it wouldn't mean much if this world also had moving mountain, but a Caterwauling Charm spread over a large space would tell me if one was making its way towards me.

 _Two:_ I put up a Warming Charm and the stripped, searching myself over for anything that might have been signs of Splinching. I was still running on adrenaline and there might have been a chance, however small, that I might have and missed it. I found nothing which meant I was okay. I put back my clothes.

 _Three:_ I pulled out a mirror from my rucksack and said, "Hermione Granger."

She appeared, to her right Ron and to her left Angelica. At once Ron was thrown out of the picture as other people appeared all of them shooting questions at me.

"…it's dark," I heard one say. "We might have overshot."

"But how does that work? The time has run parallel through most of the other tests. Maybe Granger was right. Now was it because he's a man or the syllables in his name?"

"Quiet," said Hermione and she sounded irate. "Harry, are you alright. Did you make it through alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah," I said. "I made it through. Not sure if I'm still in the Highlands. I haven't checked yet. But I'm in a forest and that matches up with where we were. Oh, it might also be important, but I felt something before I moved through. As though I was passing through something."

"Rover!" said one of the people. "It explains the yelp."

"But what does it mean beyond that?" another said.

"Anything else?" said Hermione above them.

"Yeah. I could see the worlds while in the space between them?" I said. "It was as though they were slots in a large image and I could look at them. There were strange creatures, but one of them was a mass of darkness that looked straight at me."

"Could be a godly entity," said Angelica. "One powerful enough to, for lack of a better phrase, peer through the veil. Did it try to get at you?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It was just watching me."

"That might cause complications," she said looking towards the other. "We'll have to find out if there's not a way to communicate with it. See if it might pose risk in the future."

"Another off-shoot of the original goal," a man said. "We're not going to get any more money if we don't at least show them that—"

"We know," said Hermione. "Harry. Remember. You have three months to check over at least the broad strokes of how this world works. How wizard and muggle kind have developed and if there are anything _new_ that people might be interested in seeing beyond the novelty of just travelling to a new world."

I nodded. "Count on me," I said. "I' still remember the stuff. Three days and then call again to report. A week, a month and then return after three months."

Hermione nodded, smiling a little sadly. "And Harry, be careful. You don't know what to expect from this world. And knowing you…"

"Tell him constant vigilance!" I heard Ron shout, his voice sounding far off.

Hermione was smiling as she looked in the direction. "Ron says constant vigilance," she said.

"And my gift!" I heard Ron say just as the image cut off.

There was only so much time that a connection to my earth could remain before the mirror ran out of juice. It would be a day before the mirror had recharged enough for a minute, with the growth in recharge getting larger the more days I didn't use the mirror.

I placed it back in the bag and the pulled out Ron's box. I reached in and felt the space beyond, too big. I dug around until my hand touched a piece of paper. I pulled it out.

 _You probably won't like this but thankfully I'm not there for this to be a fight. You're going into a whole new world with untold dangers, even Headmaster Dumbledore thought that this was the sort of exception for you to break your promise._

 _I don't know what help it'll be, but it might help you. Please use it if needed._

 _R._

 _PS: Just in case Hermione's ball doesn't work. I'll say your name three times every day._

I reached into the box and there were two objects: One the Elder Wand and the other, the Deluminator.

888

"Does no Hogwarts mean no magic?" I said. I was on my broom where the castle should have stood, looking down towards where the town of Hogsmeade should have been sitting. An entirely wizarding town.

"It's too early to tell right now," I said to the recorder embedded in the snitch beside me. "But I have this feeling that it might. Except if it's a divergent timeline?" I groaned. "Really should have read more wizarding history… Erase the last, don't want Hermione to hear it."

Even so, the first path was checking if there was magic here. If there was, then I could scout the people for a little while, see how their Ministry leaned before discussing with them travel between worlds. If it was just muggles, then we could work with the same sort of secrecy that we did in our world, but that wouldn't be so easy with wizards.

First step in that path, checking places there had been wizard settlements.

"Map," I said and out it jumped, unravelling in front of me. When I had my location I directed the map back in my bag and flew off. A few minutes in flight and then I saw it, the _very_ small town of Knoydart.

In my world it had been one of the few solely wizarding settlements, though it had a muggle past. At its beginnings it had been a shared settlement, before muggle-kind had been bred out with muggle-wizarding intermarrying. It had been lucky in not being majorly affected by Voldemort's rampage because there were old families there, families that had pull even though a large majority of them were half-bloods.

Here, it had never been shared with wizards by the looks of it, which meant it was so incredibly small, though it was getting bigger since a few houses were being built.

Invisible, I pointed my broom downward and searched through the little town until I found a library. I did away with the disillusionment and put up a Muggle Repelling Charm around my person before finding the day's paper. I stopped as I looked at the date: 11 April 2011.

I hadn't only be shunted through space, but also through time. I was eight years into the future which meant the world might have changed. It was confusing though, because when I'd contacted Hermione she hadn't picked up eight years into the future but at the moment I'd left.

I shook my head. I was likely to figure it out, but I could trust that I would return to the same point in time because everything else _had._

I really looked at the newspaper. It wouldn't be obvious through muggle eyes, but oddities might be noticed that might tell me if this place had wizards working in the background trying to keep this world's magic secret. Even if it didn't do that, then it would give me a direction towards moving, seeing what they considered wonders and checking them out for Hermione.

I also made a mental note to research the technology since I'd been moved forward in the future. I remembered the discussion of how the enchantments being layered around the world would have to be changed to keep the Statute of Secrecy because of satellites and in the future that problem would be exacerbated.

I didn't miss the likelihood of a wide-reaching Fidelius Charm on the concept of magic itself. It would be hard to pull off, but it was the next natural progression for wizardkind to continue existing in secrecy. If that _was_ the fact, then things would be harder on my front.

That was quickly pushed aside though as I really read the newspaper: _Villain,_ Bean Nighe, _captured after link to the disappearance of eleven youths._

Reading the entirety of the story, the woman had been caught by someone who called themselves Sir Galahad. The woman had been linked to the disappearance of eleven youths and when they'd been found they'd been under her sway enough that they hadn't wanted to leave her presence. Sir Galahad had fought his way through them, making sure none were hurt too badly, until finally capturing the woman.

There was a picture of the man, wearing a suit that was reminiscent of armour though it wasn't. He had a grim look as he stood looking over a scene where a house was rubble, a woman in full armour in the process of picking up a piece of the house.

 _Magic and it wasn't being hidden. It was being flaunted._

I didn't have time to think this through as I felt a small jolt running through me, a variant of the Caterwauling Charm except only _I_ would be notified that someone had entered my range. I looked and a man moved through the Muggle Repelling Charm, clear discomfort on his features. He eased the moment that he was through.

"You're new here," the man said, his accent Scottish and on the thick end.

"Yeah," I said and I smiled. "Is it that obvious?"

He shrugged. "Small town," he said. "It's easy to know everyone and I sort of have an advantage."

A part of me wanted to ask if he was this world's version of an Auror and he'd seen the behaviour of the muggles and thought of it as odd, or if he had some spell under his spell that detected my own. But I didn't, to say anything would be giving away too much. I might spill that I was from another world to the wrong person, at the wrong moment and mess things up.

Better to say as little as possible, but make sure I was ready in case things soured.

"Sure…" I said. "Did you want something?"

The man frowned a little. "Yeah," he said. He took a breath. "Your power is giving me a headache," he said.

 _Power?_

He held up a hand as though I'd been about to say something. "Now, I get it. You're doing things and maybe your power's automatic. But, could you please keep it to a minimum? There's strange interaction between us and it's really uncomfortable."

"Um…sure," I said. _Power?_ Was that how people in this reality thought of magic? But the way he spoke was odd, as though magic was more specific?

"Thanks," he said and then he left. He looked back in my direction one last time, his face warping in discomfort again. He quickly looked forward again, moving for a table and then settling down to read a book. He would look my way again before quickly returning to his book again.

He was worth keeping a watch over. The wizards in this world were _out,_ at least partially because from the looks of it they served hero and villain roles I'd seen in muggle entertainment in my reality. I doubted that this was the full lengths of magic, which meant my theory about a worldwide Fidelius Charm could be true and that man could show me where wizards were.

The obvious solution would be to tell him that I was a wizard too, but then that would be giving away too much information for my comfort. Most people didn't expect to be followed so…

I grinned as an idea hit me, explaining it would be hard but maybe I could Obliviate him? I didn't like just doing that, playing around with someone's memories. But there was still this niggling feeling that something was _off._

When he was looking down into his book I flicked my wrist and took hold of my wand.

"Accio wand," I muttered under my breath, pointing it in his direction. Nothing happened. "Okay?"

I was right that something was off because he didn't have a wand. Except if maybe he was a Squib but then he'd already said he had magic? He'd said he had powers, but…

I would definitely have to watch him, but since he was still sitting and watching _me,_ I could learn more about this world from the newspapers.

There were more heroes. The woman I'd seen clearing rubble was Dame Percival, but there were others. The major heroes had names of Knights of the Roundtable, but some didn't. I was a month back and reading on something they called and Endbringer when the man moved, with one last look towards me he moved towards the door.

I didn't pop the Muggle Repelling Charm, instead tapping myself thrice before turning on the spot. I appeared outside and watched as the man moved, going through the town, greeting people as he did, until finally he went into a house.

I felt horrible as I followed, turning and appearing inside, more so when I caught a conversation from the kitchen.

"Saw a para in the library," the man said to a red-headed woman.

She was in the process of finishing of cooking and she stopped, looking at the man with surprised. "Here?" she said.

"What I thought," the man said with a snort. "Nothing happens here that would get someone to trigger. But then, might have been a stranger or thinker, it doesn't take much to set them off."

"You're a thinker, hun," she said.

"Me being the obvious exception, of course," he said and he smiled. "I was a little…rude to him, I feel. Told him to check his power?"

"Dangerous, that," the woman said, though she didn't seem to worried.

"It was really getting to me," the man said. "Kept trying to make me think towards a certain direction, away from him. Kept getting caught in this loop where my mind took me there, then away and on and on until this massive headache started forming. So I told the kid to keep it down." The man shrugged. "Keeps a certain sense of peace too. He might be a villain. I know him, now, he's unlikely to cause trouble."

"But he knows us too," said the woman.

"Made sure he wasn't following me," he said. "And we won't be here long for it to matter."

The woman hummed. "Just be careful. We came here for a break," she said.

"I know," he said. He crossed his heart. "I'll make sure to keep away from the kid."

"Do," she said, then she started plating.

The conversation after that wasn't really that interesting though there were a few snippets that gave me a direction to look to figure out more about the man, Alastair, his wife had called him. He was a hero, working with the group that Sir Galahad belonged in, which meant he was one of the King's Men.

But more than anything it was boring stuff that told me nothing because there were no explanations. He talked about another _tinker_ that had been lost to the _suits,_ and the growing fear that the King's Men weren't growing enough.

The woman, Ellie, then went over a big event that was coming up in the future, she worked in a catering company that was reaching success which made the conversation veer towards Alastair perhaps thinking about retirement.

It was at that moment that a knife flew in my direction.

888

I fell, landing in a roll and then coming up with my wand already pointed, a spell on my tongue. I quickly changed track and called up a shield as another knife cleared the air towards me. The shield activated in time and the knife bounced off.

Alastair was running out of the dining room, Ellie being dragged behind him. The woman looked scared but she wasn't panicking, instead the moment she was out of the room bolted left while Alastair moved right.

Had he _wandlessly_ incanted a Human Revealment Charm? But I hadn't felt it.

I looked down I couldn't really see anything on my person that said my spells had frayed. How had he seen me?

 _Homenum Revelio._

The image of where they were appeared in my mind: Ellie was on the second floor while Alastair was rapidly moving back towards the dining room.

"Kid, if this is you then you made a mistake coming here," he said and there was anger in his voice. "Coming into our _residence_ and just watching us? If you thought you could come here and kill a hero to get some sort of cred, then you're sorely mistaken. Push me far enough and I'm not going to be the one to die here. Show yourself and surrender!"

I still knew where he was, though that was rapidly fading. I turned on the spot and appeared behind him, I tapped him with my wand and he clattered on the ground.

Unfortunately I hadn't been on the second floor which meant I couldn't just Apparate there, and I didn't doubt that the woman might be crafting traps up there.

I pointed my wand at some plate and the thing turned into a bird, it flew upstairs. I tapped my ears and sound all at once became vivid, my ears being able to hear _more._ I waited, heard a curse and the crack of gunfire, and then something hitting the ground. Too small to be the woman.

More cutlery turned into more birds and there were more shots before the right weight of something hit the ground.

"Fuck," I said and I hit my head. People would be calling the police at the gunfire. This had spread out a bit _too_ much. I'd have to alter the memories of this entire if I wanted to stay secret…or I could just Obliviate these two of my memories of me and leave everyone else wondering about everything else.

But in the meantime.

I went outside, fired into the air until minor enchantments had been put up. I'd know it when people came and I would have enough time to Disapparate…maybe it was better for me if I just created a Portkey, those charms took longer to erect than an Anti-Disapparition Charm.

I worked through that and then moved Ellie and Alastair into the living room before waking up the latter of the two. The man seemed surprise, especially when he found himself bound. I did away with the charms that kept me hidden.

"First and foremost, I am _so_ sorry about this," I said.

"If you're sorry then there's no need for you to do it," said Alastair. He'd stopped struggling. "If you're in more than you can help, then I can help…No, that's not it. Are you going to kill us?"

My expression warped. "What? No," I said. "I'm just going to ask you a few questions and then Obliviate you."

"Obliviate?" the man said.

I let out a long hum. He didn't know what Obliviating was, but then the magic here was so different. He didn't even need a wand.

"How did you know I was there?" I asked.

"Everything goes well and you'll let us go?" Alastair asked. I nodded. I could see that he accepted that and it was too easy, except if he was some sort of Legillimens like Voldemort. Could he tell when I was lying or telling the truth?

How could I even test that?

"No," I said. "Instead I'll torture you horribly if you don't do as I say."

Ellie reacted. "Oh, God," she said, and her heart picked up a little. "Al."

"It's okay," Alastair said. "He's lying. I think it's a test, trying to figure out my power. You asked how I could see you and I didn't. I noticed something like a small shimmer in the air, a little like light had warped. All those small instances of seeing it accumulated until I had to act to see if I was right."

"So you weren't sure," I said and he nodded. "You have a power, tell me about it."

Here Alastair shifted a little, looking uncomfortable. "I have a _very_ good memory," he said.

I waited for him to continue but he didn't. I pointed my wand and he looked at it with an amount of confusion. "Confundo," I said, then, "Tell me only the truth."

"I am?" he said and he sounded confused. "I was?"

I looked at him for a long moment because there was just something wrong.

"Confundo," I said, this time adding more vigour into the spell. It should have left him not knowing who he was for at least a few days. A risk on my part, but I got the really strong sense that something was wrong here. "What's your name?"

"Alastair McIntosh," he said and there was still confusion, though not enough.

My spell hadn't worked on him. Was there a strange interaction like there'd been with the Muggle Repelling Charm? His _power_ making it so his mind was stronger?

A natural Legillimens and Occlumens, except he'd said he had a good memory. Was that the natural extension of Occlumency? A good memory? I hadn't ever thought to ask.

Would I be able to Obliviate him, them? Or modify him memories?

I stood back a little, watching the both of them before I ran a hand through my face.

"Mr McIntosh, I'll need you to repeat this sequence back to me," I said. "Three-Seven-Two-Five-Seven-Seven-Three-Nine." I pointed my wand at him and then brought forward the concept of what I wanted him to forget and said, "Obliviate. Repeat it back at me."

"Three-Seven-Two-Five-Seven-Seven-Three-Nine," he said.

I pointed my wand at him and tried to modify his memories before quickly stopping as he screamed in pain.

"It seems that's not going to work," I said. "Which makes this a little more complicated." Both of them shifted.

"Does that mean you're going to kill us?" Alastair asked.

" _No,"_ I said. "Mr Alastair, as things stand, I'm very likely to hurt or kill you. Even the last thing wasn't meant to hurt you, just a test that went in a direction I hadn't predicted. Just…" I let out a sigh. "I can't figure out how I'm supposed to move forward now that I've royally messed things up with someone that won't be able to forget it."

"An explanation might help," said Alastair. "If it's convincing enough then this might be forgivable. But it would have to be very convincing."

"Okay," I said with a nod. "Okay, but first I need to ask you to tell me something. How much influence to the King's Men have?"

"A lot?" he said. "I don't understand."

"Though they're losing that to the Suits, yes?" I said and he nodded. A guess that the Suits were an organisation, though not one hard to make. "Okay. I can work with that." I let out a breath. "This might be hard to believe," I said. "But I'm a traveller from another _world._ No, that'll make you think I'm an alien, I'm—"

"From an alternate earth," said Ellie. "You're from Earth Aleph?"

"Earth Aleph? No," I said. "But another world, though knowing that makes it easier." I clapped my hands together. "How would the opportunity to travel to another be seen in your earth? That and people travelling into _this_ world?"

"Is everyone like you?" asked Alastair.

"That would be impossible," I said. "People are different. It's what makes them special."

"I meant…is this regular behaviour for people in your world? Just breaking into someone's home and then tying them up?"

"It isn't, and I regret having gone this far, but I needed the information and I thought you might be faster than slogging through newspapers."

"You could use a computer," said Ellie.

"That would mean breaking into a rich person's house too…right. Future. Probably everyone has them now," I said. I shook my head. "Even if I had thought of that, I don't really know how to use one. My people aren't technologically savvy."

"Hard to believe when you cracked interdimensional travel," said Alastair. "Only one person's been able to crack that here and they're a tinker."

"You'll have to explain that term," I said.

"Let us go," he said. "I can call the higher ups. You can talk to them, sort things out." He was tensing a little as he said this.

"Fine," I said and he eased. "But first I'll have to take out contingencies. Should have started with that before even coming here in the first place. Unfortunately I can't release you right now because I might have a trap set out for me when I return, but it shouldn't take ten minutes before everything's set and I'm back."

"You _will_ come back?" said Alastair. I nodded. "You can go."

I turned on the spot.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

 _Homenum Revelio._

Still the exact number of people I'd committed to mind before. It was early night, which meant there were still people moving about, but they were low enough in number that it didn't strain me to keep track. Almost an hour had passed and the King's Men had yet to arrive.

Six Galleons that they were forming a strategy to take me down if it came to it. Not that I blamed them. Sitting back and thinking over the last hour, I couldn't help but think that there might have been better ways to have handled things, ones that might have kept the suspicion to a minimum. Like maybe not overestimating my Charm's ability and remembering the tenants of shadowing someone: Always stay concealed, even beyond magic.

I let out a long breath. Two years out of the Auror Corps and I was already so rusty, that would have to change and pretty quickly if I was going to be doing this full time. This world had heroes and villains, I didn't know how Hermione would take to that, but it was likely that I would be staying here and learning how this world worked; with my luck, it also wasn't out of the question that I might get myself wrapped up in something that might mean my life.

If I hadn't done something to that affect already.

Equal parts exciting and terrifying.

Alastair sat looking at me, his expression twisting to worry at times before quickly easing, his breaths controlled. Ellie was gone. The moment I'd arrived Alastair had asked that she be allowed to leave and I'd said yes. Things were already in a not-good position between all of us, and not letting the man's wife leave would be worsening everything.

 _Homenum Revelio._

But that didn't mean that this wasn't a trap, that right now they weren't working to close off my escape routes, preparing to snipe me and then going to sleep feeling that it was deserved. Which, from their point of view, it might very well be.

 _Homenum Revelio._

Three people had disappeared from the spell's range, two people suddenly close to the house.

"I think the others might be here," I said.

Alastair just nodded, his eyes moving quickly to my wand then back to me. "How will this work?" he asked.

"I'm not really sure," I said, running a hand over my chin. "My lessons say I should talk to your leader, explain everything and see if they're open to the entire thing. But…this is an exceptional circumstance."

"You mean you broke into my house and attacked me," said Alastair.

I let out another sigh. "Yes," I said. "I broke into your house and attacked you. Again, I'm really sorry about that."

"You said. But…why?" he asked.

 _Homenum Revelio._

Ten people had disappeared but there two people in the next house, which seemed odd. My protective enchantments had yet to activate which meant they weren't about to attack.

"They're there," said Alastair. "Most likely getting people to safety?"

I nodded. "Connecting the dots between what I said and what I'm doing?" He nodded. "Smart."

He shook his head. "Not smart. The ability does almost all the hard work," he said.

"How do you know that it's not just you being smart?" I asked. "That it's an ability?"

 _Homenum Revelio._

Two people at the back of the house and two others were moving toward the door. I stood, letting my wand spin in my grasp; Alastair had done the same, quickly moving to his feet and tensing as he looked in my direction. He was prepared to move, not that I blamed him.

"They're here," I said.

Alastair gave me a last look before going to the door. He opened it before there was a knock. The two people were a man and a woman, both of them King's Men. The man was Sir Kay, a tall and thin man with greying hair and moustache; the costume that he wore was equally grey, skin tight with light blue lines running through it, in the middle was a sword superimposed on a shield, the top of the shield looked like the top of a crown. The woman was Dame Percival, and she was wearing blue armour with compartments at her waist.

"Sir. Ma'am," said Alastair.

"Makhai," said Sir Kay. I couldn't see his face beyond the domino mask, his eyes moved towards me. "This is him, then? The man from another world?"

"Harry," I said. "I'd shake your hand, but…" I shook my head. "There's the feeling that this is all a trap and you might use that to your advantage."

"He knows you've formed a perimeter, sir," said Alastair. "It's part of his powerset."

"Trump eight, you said," said Dame Percival. "If he were to be a threat."

"Yes, ma'am," said Alastair.

"I'm starting to feel a little insulted that I'm being talked around," I muttered, loud enough that they could hear me.

"My apologies," said Sir Kay. "Much as we care to keep this civil, we'd rather have our people come out of this in one piece. Which means getting our information from the primary source." At the last he gestured towards Alastair.

"I understand," I said. "Can we get to it, then? I'm uncomfortable being surrounded and I'll be checking to see if your people have moved. Alastair can watch me, he knows how I check and will know if I'm doing anything else."

Sir Kay and Dame Percival looked at Alastair and the man nodded.

 _Homenum Revelio._

No one had moved from their position. It was very likely that all of them were listening in on our conversation. I took a breath, remembering that there were protective enchantments around this place, that these two had managed to step through was sign enough that they weren't trying to hurt me, or their abilities were geared towards hiding their minds in a similar way as Alastair.

 _This is a really bad idea,_ a part of me thought. But I was protected as much as I could knowing as little as I did. I had to trust that, had to trust that these people were the heroes their media made them up to be…which didn't fill me with too much hope.

"Shall we begin, then?" I said.

Sir Kay gave a nod. "You said you had a preposition?"

I nodded, taking another breath. "As I've told Alastair I'm from another earth." _Homenum Revelio._ Slight movement, there was another person in the spell's range and they were in the sky.

"I'm part of a group there that's working towards a inter-world tourism venture. People travelling between worlds and seeing the sights, we could maybe even facilitate movement to other dimensions for the thrill seeking in this world…and a whole host of stuff in that direction."

"How long have you been in our world, if I might ask?" said Dame Percival.

"A matter of hours," I said. "Arrived. Made sure to secure my way home and protect it, worked to see commonalities between this world and my own, that's when I got the good idea to break into Alastair's home."

"Why?" said Dame Percival.

"My mind was stuck on how my world work and I formed theories with that in mind," I said. "Things sort of snowballed from there in a direction I didn't want. Hopefully I didn't sufficiently mess things up. There's still room for this to go peacefully?"

"I think that's what we all want," said Sir Kay. "But it's important you know a few things about our world which might or might not be true for your world. There are creatures called the Endbringers. Destructive creatures that might relish the opportunity of coming to a new world."

"Not mentioning the large villain population," said Dame Percival. "With this idea of yours it's very likely that some might seek to enter your world and re-establish themselves there if they deem they won't have too much competition."

"Bad idea, then?" I said. _Homenum Revelio._ The person in the sky had disappeared.

"There's too much we don't understand," said Dame Percival.

"What about Earth Aleph?"

"The portals between Earths Aleph and Bet were closed," said Sir Kay. "An Agreement was drawn up and it made travel between our worlds illegal, with information being the only thing allowed to move between realities."

"A precedence," I said and sighed. "At least I learned this early on because I caused far reaching trouble. This won't be liked back home," I said and shrugged. "But we won't risk it, most probably—"

A shiver passed up my spine, just a moment later before Sir Kay tensed, a rigidity in his eyes. He _knew_ that I knew, and with the dawning expression on him, he knew that I knew that he knew. Could he be reading my mind?

"Something you want to tell me?" I said, while going through a short mental technique. The more active facets of Occlumency were still something I hadn't mastered, but detecting intrusion was something I excelled at, and after feeling out, I didn't detect any presence in my mind.

Maybe not direct, then, but indirect. Maybe they were having a telepathic conversation with Makhai doing that odd, non-telepathic truth reading thing that he did.

"There is a group called the Enlightened," said Sir Kay. "Round about this time they act, causing one form of chaos or another towards their ends. We initially thought that you might be one of them and we've acted accordingly. Right now we have someone who's very good at gathering information outside and they're relaying everything they're able to get to us. Your return point was amongst that batch of information and we have one of our own there to stop you if we found out you were one of them and you tried to flee."

"How, if I might ask?"

"A special power," said Dame Percival. "It's impolite in this world to ask someone about their powers. You never know when they might be an adversary, and in those cases it helps that they not know how to effectively counter you."

I shrugged. "Guess I can accept that," I said. "But I'd like for the favour to be returned in kind. You must have gotten enough at this point to know that I mean no harm."

"Yes, we have," said Sir Kay. "Gawain, if you'd move the Mad Hatter."

 _Homenum Revelio._

Two people the next house over had disappeared, there was only one now.

 _Too easy._

I moved my wand and enhanced my senses, it was uncomfortable at first, everything magnified, but I worked and I dulled it, choosing one sense and focusing it towards the house, wading through the ambient sound to hear a person muttering before they suddenly silenced.

 _Homenum Revelio._

There was one person in the neighbouring house. They'd changed people, I was sure of it, switching out the person that could read me. I had to wonder what the muttering man had told them.

The three were looking at me in silence, no doubt Alastor had seen the change in wand movement and since he didn't have a listening device he wouldn't know what the other knew.

They'd lied to me again, not that I blamed them. I'd entered this world through force and the best they could do was be cautious enough that I wouldn't leave it the same way.

I took a breath and let it out. I could let this pass, but I'd have to be on the lookout for something in a similar vein in the future.

"I'd like for you to talk to the team on the other side," I said. "Figure out how to move forward. You share stuff with the other earth, I'm thinking there could be a similar arrangement between our earths. But I don't think I'm smart enough to be the one to do that."

"And in the meantime, what will you be doing?" asked Dame Percival.

More than anything I wanted to explore this world. It seemed such a waste to move beyond the borders of separate realities and not take a tour. But looking at the King's Men and with what they'd said in mind, it didn't look like that would be a possibility.

Or could it?

"I could be a hero," I said. "Temporarily join the King's Men while everything is being discussed, and figuring out whether or not an anchor point should be placed in this reality."

"Anchor point?" said Sir Kay.

I shrugged. "Beyond my pay grade," I said. "I'm just the muscle."

"It will need to be deliberated," said Dame Percival. "Something like this has far reaching effects. There'll need to be communication with most of the world's country…in short, it could take a while."

"I was slated to be here for three months at any rate," I said. "You could even have someone watch me while I'm here. I'll read into this world and play by its rules until things are figured out."

I didn't like that I might be under someone again, for the possibility that it might be decided for me where I could and couldn't help, but I also didn't want to go back home so early. It would at least be another three months before another Portkey was created, and knowing how the Group's collective minds worked they would be more likely to ask me about the first trip, ironing out what they perceived to have gone wrong instead sending me off to another world.

It was better if they did all that while I was here, experiencing this world.

Dame Percival made to speak before Sir Kay interrupted her. "Let us talking amongst ourselves," he said. "Weigh our options, the risks and the benefits, before making a decision on your three month stay. But in the meantime, it might be better if we moved this to more secure ground. Having all of us here will no doubt have caused villains in various parts of the country to act."

"Of course," I said, letting a grin on me. So long as we were still on home soil my emergency Portkey would work. I didn't like that I was leaving the minor protective enchantments I had around this place, but I had to trust those on my person. "I'll let you lead the way."

888

"I've got ten extra mirrors and right now they've got about ten minutes each before they're out of commission," I said. "Then the recharge is a day for a minute, then another for three, another for nine, then eighty-one and I think the cap is three hours."

We were in a boardroom, the windows boarded shut. In the room with me were Dame Percival, Sir Daniel and Merlin, all of them who were watching me.

I reached into my bag and pulled out one of the mirrors, with a point from my wand and a minor movement the mirror vibrated and then grew in size until it took up the majority of the wall.

"On," I said and the image blinked, showing a large office with scrolls a few of which were flying around; there were also a myriad of objects, some of which were dipped in potions. A man was at the back and he was looking down at a thick tome.

"Hey! Andrew!" I said and the man jumped, looking over.

"Harry?" he said. He reached into his pocket and looked at his watch. "It's only been a few hours, not enough time to…" He squinted then pulled his wand and said a spell; his eyes bulged. "Are those superheroes behind you?" he said, rushing forward and closer to his mirror.

"Yeah," I said. "This world is littered with them."

"Merlin's beard," he said and then he sobered. "Um…Sorry," he said. "This is very unprofessional. I assume you had a reason for calling?"

"Yeah. Meetings," I said. "This world is more complicated than we thought. First of all, it already knows about parallel earths and is in communication with another earth that's called Aleph. They've got laws that prevents travel between world, a precedence."

"That's a bother," he said. "Pushes things back, but at least it's success in one part even though we have to account for the off-shoot." He shook his head. "Sorry. Sorry, got distracted. What will the meeting be about?"

"Perhaps they can explain," I said. I gestured at each of them. "Sir Daniel, Dame Percival and…Merlin."

"Merlin?"

"Merlin." I said. "Just a title though, with what little I've been able to figure out. No connection to the old guy."

"Oh," said Andrew. "It would have been something if there was. Right. Right." He looked at the others. "I am Andrew Abercrombie, a magical engineer for the Allied Group for the Advancement of Wizardkind."

"Dame Percival, of the King's Men," the woman said. "As we've explained to Mr Potter, travel between world is something that's unlikely to go well with the world, too much risk that there might be a war for resources beyond the Endbringers and villain populations."

"Endbringers?" said Andrew.

"Remember the Rampage of 1812?" I said and Andrew nodded. "Something similar happens roughly every three months in this world. Creatures that are dragon and Nundu and giant tier in terms of destruction capabilities, Dementor in terms of being dealt with, and _smart."_

"There's the threat that the Endbringers might travel to your reality and cause destruction there," said Merlin. "Something I wouldn't want befalling anyone." There was a hint of emotion there.

Andrew hummed, running a hand through his chin, as we watched, a beard grew out and he played with it. "Gives more credence to the resources war as well. Safety is a resource and as a world without any Endbringers or what I'm imagining your villains are, then…" He stopped, looking at me. "He's already offered to help, hasn't he?" he asked the others.

"Mr Potter?" said Dame Percival and Andrew nodded. "Yes, he has. It's still to be decided if that should be done with the trouble it might incur."

Andrew let out a short huff. "Hermione was afraid something like this might happen," he said. "She said the first opportunity and your saving people thing would show. But then, I don't blame you. Everything three months?"

"It's a reality this entire world has been forced to adapt to," said Sir Daniel. "Onto business, though, as I understand it we have a time limit."

"Right. Right. Sorry again," said Andrew. "I'm…distractible."

"It's something we're used to," said Dame Percival. I couldn't discern anything because of the mask she was wearing, but there was slight chiding in her tone.

"What were you thinking?"

"Information and resources," said Sir Daniel. "Mr Potter tells me your world is good at create advanced technology…"

Andrew looked at me. "Just roll with it," I said with a shrug.

"Some of which might things easier when we battle the Endbringers," Sir Daniel continued.

"Protective enchantments, Switching Spells, that sort of thing," I put in. "I haven't had much time to read up everything about them because I've been coming here for most of the time with things being explained to me. But they have themes of attack that they rely on that we might limit through enchantments."

"Direct interaction?" said Andrew. He glanced at the other. "AK, Imperius or transfigurations?"

"Too large for transfigurations," I said. "AK might work but that would require a strongly stupid individual to go test it out…"

Andrew let out a long groan. "Hermione will not be happy," he said. "Mrs Weasley won't be happy about this. _I'm_ not happy about this. What will people say if we got _you_ killed?"

"I'm unlikely to die," I said. "Make the case? We might be able to help this world. We should at least try, see if it's possible. If we don't then we're just monsters."

Andrew sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Okay," he said, sounding a little defeated. "I'll make the case." He looked at the rest. "I'll need a matter of hours to get the others in one place, speak to the Minister and see if he doesn't have any concerns about this. You don't mind if we namedrop you, right?" he said to me.

I shrugged.

"You'll have to daisy chain the mirrors, thirty minutes to be on the safe side and to make sure we hash things out."

"Will do," I said.

He pulled out his watch. "We're out of time," he said. "Stay safe, Harry. Constant Vigilance as you lot love to say."

"Bye, Andrew," I said and the image blinked out.

"You're important where you come from?" said Dame Percival.

I shrugged. "Was a war and I helped end it," I said. "It's an entire thing that I don't like getting into."

They shifted with anticipation, at least those whose expression I could see, which was just Sir Daniel. Dame Percival was covered entirely by her armour and Merlin looked as though she was scowling all the time, which worked counter with her placid expression. They wanted to know, but I didn't want to tell him.

"Mind if I get something to eat?" I said. "I don't think that I'll be in the meeting, only recording the thing so that I have notes."

"I'll take you," said Merlin. "I'd like us to talk more about your…magic while we eat. I'd like to see how you daisy chain these…mirrors."

"Sure," I said with a giant grin on my face.

 _I_ would be teaching _Merlin_ about magic.

888

"There'll be too many people in one place," said Merlin. The two of us were in a room filled with a lot of machinery, most of which looked like prosthetics. Merlin's work room. "The villains will notice."

I'd finished eating a few moments ago and she'd given me the tour, not of the facility, but of her workroom. After haranguing me with questions she'd said she felt the need to jot down notes, ideas she'd been having every time I used a spell. It was fascinating to watch, though it made me understand what Dame Percival had said.

Merlin's ability meant that, at any moment, she could have an idea of something to build and then feel the strong urge to do it. Looking around the workroom, I could see a lot of projects that were in various stages of completion.

"They'll act, which means the movers amongst us will have to be out there," she continued. "Me, Dame Percival, Dame Gawain and hopefully you might help us on that front."

"You're open to my idea?" I said.

She shrugged. "It's still being discussed by the others," she said. "Sir Bors and I have already cast our votes, which means I can be here, talking to you, while the others draw it out."

"You don't like them, much?" I said.

"I don't like the process," she said. Which wasn't directly saying otherwise, but I let it go. "It's one of the reasons the King's Men aren't _big_. The others are old, unwilling to change and they don't get that they're working towards getting the youth to join them…but we're moving away from the point. Will you help us."

"Of course," I said. "What do you need?"

"Teleporting," she said. "Increases our response times, doesn't let everything turn towards chaos while the others are talking with the people in your world."

"Give me locations and I can get it done," I said. "And I might be able to personally help. My powerset is wide, unknown, I might quickly close things down."

She looked at me for a long moment. "It would be going against the others," she said and then she looked down, pencil in hand and making quick sketches. She shrugged. "I can live with that," she said and there was a smirk on her face.

The Portkeys didn't take that long to create, but Merlin made me stretch it out by asking me to create a myriad of Portkeys to see how it worked. She even pulled out a device at certain parts which beeped when it came close to a Portkey.

"This has my files on the basic procedures of para fights," she said, flipping over a laptop. "It's got a voice command feature which means you don't have to press anything. Read up on that while I'm away. I have to get a few things."

"Sure," I said and I looked at the thing, at all the documents that were there. Merlin in the background picked up some of her stuff, putting all of it in a case and then pulling out a rectangular box. She pressed a button and space _tore,_ a large rectangle forming and revealing what looked like a futuristic town beyond.

She stepped through and the door closed.

It was on the boring side, just reading, but I got the general gist of what they wanted. Killing was off the books, not that I would have done so lightly in the first place, but in this world killing could only be done through official order by the sector that villain rampaged in. But that wasn't oft done, with only three people with official kill orders: The three made up the Enlightened, with a fourth member that could cause collateral damage if they were killed.

Causing damage to the environment was also something to be kept to a minimum, as well as any behaviour that might scare the muggles. That was the most important part, not scaring the muggles, because though parahumans might win a war against them, it would be disastrous to all involved.

Costumes were also a big thing in this reality.

With the last in mind I reached into my bag and pulled out robes. They were from my Auror days, made from dragonhide which meant they were resistant to spells and an amount of physical damage. But that resistance also meant it was hard to put on additional spells onto the materials.

If I wanted to, I could made create my own costume, imbuing it with various protective properties, but that might take a while as I figured out the finnicky parts of spells and I was likely to have to go out in a matter of hours if not minutes.

I shrugged my robes on over my clothes, tapping them so that I was a little more comfortable. It filled me with a measure of the same pride I'd felt when I'd first put the uniform, before fully knowing that being an Auror was as political as everything else in the Wizarding World.

I pushed the thoughts back and instead focused on reading the rest of the thing. The classification system that was taken from the Americans, the cooperation between the police and the few superhero groups and a little about the structure of the villain population: How they moved, what their suspected powers were and their trade. Who held territory and the new faces that were popping up.

An hour must have passed before space ripped and Merlin stepped through carrying a large case. She was smiling as she sat, pulling out another notebook and then starting to sketch, writing words at points.

"What was that?" I asked, gesturing towards where she'd just stepped out.

"Pocket dimension," she said. "Have you gotten to the class system, yet?" I nodded. "It's where tinkers gather. The safest place to get the more exotic supplies or even sell new ideas."

"You sold the Portkey information?" I asked.

"Not yet," she said. "Still want to get some use out of it. See if I can build myself a teleporter. If it works, then I'll maybe sell the information on a large scale." She looked at me. "I can cut you in, of course. It's info from your world, and I can guess that you'll want to sell it to us."

I shrugged. "I'll listen in," I said. "See the general direction everything will go. It might be like that, perhaps a patent system like the muggles in our world? Going to be hard to monitor, but that's what's going to be discussed, right?"

Merlin shrugged. "Not my area of focus," she said and she started writing down so more. She opened the box just as three small boxes fell from the ceiling, the things growing arms and then landing on the ground; they scuttled into the box and then started pulling out supplies.

Two more popped out and they pulled out tools, giving them to Merlin as though they were reading her mind. In a matter of minutes she was starting to weld parts together, connecting wires between what she was creating and her computer. She then started typing furiously, her eyes not straying from the screen even as her robots continued to work, creating similar contraptions as the main one she'd created though they had minute differences.

Fifteen minutes into this I realised that I was no longer reading but watching here as she worked, a bit of unease running through me because she seemed as though she didn't even notice that I was there.

She stopped with an exasperated sigh and looked up.

"Can you get us to Cardiff?" she said getting up. "Cynosure's got the local police chasing him which means the rest of his group is pilfering a place."

I grinned, my wand out and spinning in my hand. I walked to her side, took her shoulder and turned on the spot.

888

It was night, but lights were flaring. There were two helicopters in the sky, shooting beams of light towards a car chase. One car was in the lead, sleek and red, looking expensive as it wove between other cars all of which were speeding up and impeding the police that were trying to stop the car.

Cynosure. The file on him first said stranger one. The man wasn't dangerous on his own, with his power being that he just attracted the attention of anyone who could see him, the effect lasting for a few minutes after the fact.

The optimal way of dealing with him was making sure you didn't look him, directly or indirectly, while entering his range and taking him down. Which was the reason I stood back as Merlin surged forward. I wasn't sure why she was so confident, but she was and I hadn't thought to prepare to fight this man.

She flew low and landed on the car. I had to turn on the spot, appearing on the roof of another building to watch as Merlin opened the door of the car with such force that it ripped out. She grabbed and then pulled. I made sure to close my eyes but it was too late.

Cynosure wore a bright yellow costume with white gloves and boots. The costume was a singlet, covering all of his body and most of his face. He was a bulky guy, muscles showing from beneath the costume, legs thicker and arms even thicker; I could see the edges of his hard jaw, his reddish blond hair that was neatly slicked back and deep brown eyes.

I hadn't even realised it, but I was no longer on the rooftop but on the ground, staring as the man tried to pull away Merlin's grasp, short and stubby fingers trying and failing to dig into her face. There was a snap and then the both of them were flying into the sky.

I turned on the spot and I was there, watching as the speared away, too fast. I reached into a pocket and pulled out my broom, getting on and then angling towards chasing Merlin. But as I looked, the woman was already gone, having disappeared into the city.

I started searching, dipping down at times for a closer look and ignoring the muggles that were taking my pictures, before flying up again. Frustration ran through me because I couldn't find the pair, I was sure that King's Men but I hadn't thought to ask where it might be. Then an idea hit and I started searching through police stations, making myself invisible so the muggles wouldn't see me and searched.

And then I stopped, because I realised that I'd been under the man's power, and by Merlin it was terrifying. In retrospect it was like the Imperius Curse, but it was more subtle, it hadn't even let me think about what I was doing, just pushing me towards doing it. But then, I'd managed to fight the Imperius Curse, could I do the same here?

I pushed that aside for the time being, instead landing and then turning on the spot to appear where Merlin had grabbed Cynosure. There were a lot of people there and they reacted when they saw me, some still under Cynosure's effect and perking before they looked down cast; a majority, though, the effect had faded and they were pulling out their phones and pointing them at me.

"You're a new one," said a police officer. "What do I call you?"

"Haven't decided yet," I said. "Tough to find a name that fits."

The man hummed. "Too many of you nowadays," he said. "Good one are taken. Merlin, Myrddin, Morgan Le Fey, Baba Yaga, Circe…Gwydion is a good one and it fits."

"Then Gwydion it is," I said. "Wanna see something cool?" The police officer only shrugged. With a boisterous tone and vigour in my wand movement I said, "Reparo!"

There was a flash of light and it hit the red car, pieces of the car flew back and reformed, fixing the car in a matter of seconds. There were other cars that were damaged and with the same pageantry I repeated the spell, hitting each of the cars. By the end of it I had their attention, well until Merlin landed and she looked around.

"The others are going to have my head for this," she muttered, but she was wearing a small smile.

I shrugged. "Damage is done. Now I can do the hero thing."

Merlin nodded. "We'll have to debrief," she said. "We've caught him which means his team will be trying to break him out. We'll need the Puppeteer's help if we don't want interference. Let's get the ball rolling, build momentum so that the others find it hard to say no."

"I'm starting to like you more and more," I said.

"Follow?" she said and I nodded.

She took to the sky and I jumped on my broom taking off after her.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"You're not going to take off his costume?"

We were on the other side of a two-way mirror with Cynosure beyond. The man was currently hidden behind a thick white fog I'd created and enchanted to cling to him; that and some enchanted glasses meant he could still see through the mist.

"That would tell us who he is," said Merlin. She too was looking through the glass, but I had the mental image that her thoughts were far off.

"Isn't that the point?" I asked her. "If we know who he is we can better apprehend him in his civilian identity."

She pursed her lips before she looked at me. "It's not that simple," she said. "When paras are unmasked, bad things tend to happen. People that have grudges come out of the woodwork, attacking those close to the para to get at them. Then things get worse because that para's friends will be on the war path. It's just safer to do it this way, sometimes even paras that are bound for the Birdcage are tried in their para identities."

"But might escape," I said. "I mean, we'll try to prevent it but there are only three of us and four people coming to break him out. If he does, he's out there and all he has to do is take off his mask and we won't be able to find him."

"The Artful Dodgers don't kill," she said and there was an air in how she said it that made me think she expect that to explain everything.

It was in things like this that I didn't understand this world, things like before where people's first impulses had been to record me when I appeared instead of being shocked by the thing that had happened around them. But then this world was intrinsically different from my own, it made sense the society would be different as a result.

"And there are five of us," she said. "The Puppeteer won't be her, but her dolls will be and the things pack a punch."

"Wooden dolls?" I said and then I shrugged. "Powers. They don't have to make sense. Could be some sort of fortification on them too."

"There is," said Merlin and then she was quiet, looking through the glass. "They're moving. Finally got something." I looked at her questioningly. "Sorry," she said. "I forget you don't know about me. I've got an implant that means I can keep track of feeds from the police. I know where the Artful Dodgers were, their job is done which means they'll be planning to come here in a matter of hours."

"I'll setup Portkeys for the officers," I said. "With the powers of the Artful Dodgers, they might get in the way. Maybe also traps, make sure this works and we catch them."

She nodded and I got to work, outfitting the station's police force.

The Artful Dodgers were comprised of four members: Their leader, a woman who called herself Tether, was a thinker-three, with only the ability to attach a long range sense on someone through touch, with her in mind, I'd had to layer an Imperturbable Charm around the place to make sure she wouldn't see any of our plans; then Syllu Benywaidd, a woman who had a weaker version of Cynosure's ability, she forced you to hold her gaze while she tried to pummel; Cynosure, who we had in the cell; and then perhaps their most powerful para, Gelatinous.

Puppeteer's dolls were moving around in the station, clacking every time their feet touched the floor. All of them were tall things, moving much like string puppets would except there were no strings and Puppeteer wasn't in this station with us. There were three of the things, the tallest being rail-thin, the second tallest being broad and muscular, while the last was short and portly.

The things made me a little uneasy with how they moved, how their bodies wobbled but they didn't fall, how they would walk with their heads facing the wrong direction, and more especially their creepy grinning masks with the slanting eyes.

"Paperwork's done," one of the officers said, talking to Merlin and just that moment I felt a shiver pass up my spine and promptly the Caterwauling Charm ringing through the station. The officer quickly said, "Activate!" as the screeching continued and the call reverberated, the officers disappearing with bursts of blue light.

"Your shields aren't immune, then?" said Merlin, far too calmly.

I shrugged, though I felt a little unease. Shielding Charms were my go-to, but so long as Gelatinous was in play they could very quickly make them useless, opening me up for another attack while I reeled.

"Caterwauling Charm still worked," I said. Which meant it was the physical spells he could interact with, the abstract ones still worked.

Which meant maybe this would work: _Homenum Revelio._ Three people excluding Merlin and me. Which further meant, "Containment set, activate," I said, my wand at my throat; it boomed.

There was the flash of light and when I checked again, the three people were in a magically fortified cell, which probably didn't mean much because I'd put too much faith on Gelatinous not being able to affect my spellwork. If he hit any of the places I'd layered the enchantments, then he'd make them disappear and the rest of them would be out and closer to getting Cynosure out.

"They're in the cell," I said. "We'll need to restrain them. They might be able to get out with Gelatinous' ability."

Merlin nodded and gestured. The dolls clacked off in a run, moving faster than any unpowered person, with the tallest of the three moving the fastest. Merlin moved closer and I was stretching my arm to take her shoulder when something flashed, catching my eye; my wand, already out, flicked and a shield formed. The throwing knife impacted and bounced off, clattering on the ground.

We turned in the direction to see, by his body type, a teenage boy dressed in black, his pants were on the baggy side, his shoes looking on the expensive side, and the leather jacket he wore had the feel of newness to it. The boy also had a Japanese sword at his side, one hand resting on the hilt. The boy's expression was hidden behind his blank helmet, but reading his body language I could see the anticipation.

"Conundrum," Merlin said, and the words were filled with loathing and exasperation both. "Aren't you a little far from home?"

Conundrum shrugged. "Wanted something in the area," he said. "Managed to get it but there you went, bungling everything up. Now here I am, and I'm fighting."

"You don't seem like you're too sore about that," said Merlin.

Another shrug. "I've been aching for a fight since," and he sighed, "the vacation. Thought I'd participated. The Artful Dodgers aren't very good at this sort of thing, you know."

"I do," said Merlin. "Gwydion, he's stalling. The others are likely to come out."

I nodded, starting to turn when Conundrum blinked into the air in front of me, his sword pulled back and ready for a strike; a shield formed and Conundrum abandoned the coming slash, instead landing with both feet on my shield and then flipping back before landing. I noticed a '1' printed on the back of his jacket.

He sheathed his sword and wagged his fingers. "None of that," he said. "I know about your powers, young sir, enough that I'll know when you teleport, and if you think about activating the blue light teleport, then I'm going to _really_ damage Merlin. She knows it's true."

Merlin smirked and then said, "Your brothers are here too then? If I remember, Enigma's the true thinker here."

"I'm a thinker too," said Conundrum, "and so's Mystery. It's a little insulting that you think otherwise."

"I'll rephrase, then," said Merlin. "The real danger, the more dangerous thinker, is here?"

"Oh, now you're just begging for it," the boy said and then he was in front of Merlin. The woman moved back and out of the way, pointing a hand and her fingers shooting out; Conundrum blocked them all with his sword, the little needles falling to the ground, and then jumped to the side as a beam of white light shot of Merlin's wrist—her hand had popped up to reveal machinery beneath. It popped closed, a small amount of smoke coming from it.

"Go," Merlin said just as Conundrum blinked behind her, slashing his sword. He missed, Merlin spinning and then pointing her right hand this time. It popped open and a canister shot out, the moment it hit the floor, a plume of white smoke erupted.

I turned and appeared in the cells before the smoke could hit me. Two of Puppeteer's dolls were already out of commission, the two tallest ones, the thirds was weaving out of the way as a woman in a cheerleading costume tried to punch it. When she got too close, the puppet pointed a hand and let out a slow moving ball of blue light, at this the woman, threw herself at it before it went to the people behind her.

She would be Syllu Benywaidd. I could see Gelatinous, a thin man wearing a skin tight purple costume that was textured to be almost slime-like. Looking at him I could see why he would be a villain, he was on the tall side, thin in a way that should have been sickly and yet it wasn't, and was he moved was slow, as though he was putting up a front, giving the false impression that he had weakness when he obviously didn't.

The last was definitely not Tether, instead it was another boy dressed in a dull colour, a grey coat that stretched to his knees, a hoodie under it that was up and wearing a black mask with a '2' glowing in the darkness under his hood; his sword was straight where Conundrum's was curved, and it was on his back.

 _Mystery._

"Land traps, activate," I said and only the mist erupted, all at once all over the floor. The spells on my person and on the puppet activated, which meant we continued standing while the others fell to the ceiling. Not all of my spells had activated, but I disregarded that. Mystery continued to stand on the floor, his hand in his pockets and his back slightly hunched.

He let out a long groan. "This is going to be a long one, isn't it?" he muttered. "I hate you tinkers." He looked up and said, "Drop a gob."

Gelatinous moved his hand and I pointed, a spell shot out and the glob vanished before it could hit the ground. Syllu Benywaidd worked herself to her feet and then lunged in my direction only to be hit by a pulse of blue light that slammed her against the ceiling again; in the same moment Mystery lunged forward too fast, pulling out his sword and then striking: The sword slid through the puppet as though it was made out of butter.

I pointed my wand towards fired off a salvo of blue spells towards him while also directing my attention towards Vanishing the gobs before they formed; Mystery wove out of the way and then ducked forward. I turned on the spot, appearing behind him. He changed direction on a dime and I knew where he was going to go, he was going to charge straight at me, putting him under Gelatinous.

"Deactivate."

The mist disappeared and the two villains fell on the floor. Mystery dove, rolling forward and dodging Gelatinous in the process before he pushed off, quickly closing the distance between us. I fired a Stunner but he spun, the spell missing him while he slashed his sword.

A shield, this one cursed, formed at a flick of the wand; his sword bit into the shield and exploded. He'd already let go of the sword and was still moving forward while, a leg extended and headed towards my face. It was too close and I couldn't dodge, but I could act: I pointed my wand just as the kick landed. I caught the edges of a flash of light from the Petrification Hex before face snapped to the right and I spun. I used the small spin to Apparate into the cell.

I landed in a stumbled only to feel a foot land on my chest, sending me stumbling back. It was the last of them: Enigma. Where the others' clothes were new his were in tatters, he wore a dull green hoodie with the hood up, painting his face in darkness, black shorts and bandages that wrapped his legs. On his chest was a white painted '3'.

He let out a huff. "I don't like you," he said, his voice without expression. "You made me work for the first time in a very long time. I hate that…So don't get up, okay? Or I'll cut you. And I still don't know how strong these babies are," he said the last while jostling the two swords strapped at his side.

"How?" I asked.

He tilted his head a little, then said, "Consider it something to think about. Consider it something to take into account in your thought process if we ever meet again. But mostly, know that I was going easy on you right now because you're new." He huffed. "Can you undo this? We can, but it'll mean more work."

"I won't do that," I said. I moved my wand to point it at him, but I couldn't help the pervading sense that something bad would happen.

They'd played with me, most likely, having already undone the charms around the cell before I even arrived but they wanted to make a point. As I watched Enigma standing there, hands in his pockets with a relaxed posture I thought about their files: They were villains only in that they often took what they want, money, cars, odd trinkets but never big things. But every time one of the King's Men or even the Suits fought them, they lost.

Maybe, they could win again the first two, but that was never the case where Enigma was concerned.

Could I win against him when I didn't know the powers of this world? Maybe it was just better that I give up, after all I had a bad feeling about this and…

 _Stranger!_

I pushed the bad feeling aside and fired a Stunner. He sidestepped with ease, ducking low and then rolling to the side as I followed suit with two other spells. He pulled out one of his swords—"Depulso!"—and curled into a ball as he was pushed back. He landed as I flicked my wand, he didn't let go of his swords which meant he was pulled forward.

 _Petrificus—_ He let go of the swords and they moved too quickly towards me. I rolled to the side, falling into the tube and then appearing a little off the ground. I landed on my feet and six spells shot out in rapid fire.

He ran to the side and out of the way, ducking behind Cynosure. I hit the man by mistake, parting the mist a little and saw the man beneath, how he was slumped forward because of the effects of the Stunning Spell. In the corner of my eye I saw Enigma slowly picking up his swords and sheathing them, putting his hands back in his pockets, but I couldn't do anything because the Cynosure was being wrapped by the mist again.

I moved my wand and the mist disappeared.

He was just sitting there and yet it drew all my gaze, it took too long before my thoughts managed to connect at his power and even longer before I even _wanted_ to fight it. Outside, the room shook as there were explosions and deep thuds against the walls, and all through it I was just staring at Cynosure, trying to muster the will to look away.

There was a final bang and then the door flew open. I caught Syllu Benywaidd with the corner of my eye walking in. She looked at me and my head snapped in the direct, looking into her eyes. At once pain ripped through me because the grip was so strong, and my body was automatically moving towards looking back at Cynosure.

All the will to fight Cynosure's power was gone, instead I was doing my best to look away, pulling my neck to go back to my target.

"Well," the woman said, except her mouth wasn't moving. "This is…untenable."

"I don't think you thought this through," said Syllu Benywaidd, this time her mouth moving. "I let go and he's unlikely to let us leave with Cynosure."

"Give it a sec," said Enigma. They waited and Gelatinous chose that moment to walk in, slowly and carefully making his way to the sleeping man and then holding out his hand: a thick, syrupy mass formed over his hand and collected, he let it drop and then waited.

After five minutes, Cynosure jerked awake. That was the moment that Mystery walked in, except he was surrounded by a white mist. He came close to me and the mist drifted, sharp against the back of my throat. Edges of darkness started to descend, time jumping and an extra person appearing: Conundrum.

"Souvenir!" I heard him say and them my wand was pulled out of my hand and I couldn't do anything about it. I'd even forgot that it was there, forgotten that I might have been able to use it against them, too wrapped up in trying to move.

Was that a part of the power? Dumbing me down? Not that I was too smart in the first place now that I thought about it. It was easy to remember, to let the darkness close in and—I pushed it back, fought against it even as I continued to look at Syllu Benywaidd.

"Probably has a tracker," said Mystery.

"Tinker-tech," said Enigma. "Most definitely. Put that down and let's go."

"Should I break it, at least?" I heard Conundrum say, this time his voice sounding far off. "He'll be in the workshop, less likely to mess us up for at least a little while."

"No," said Enigma. "It's boobytrapped."

The darkness closed in further.

"Hey," I heard and then felt someone hitting me. There was a flare and I could see Conundrum in front of me. "Say hello to Makhai for me. Tell him I love him and I miss him, and that I can't wait until he's chasing me again. Tell him I've—"

The world disappeared.

888

I had the worst sort of headaches when I woke up, which reminded me of why I'd stopped drinking. I was in a room in the hospital I was sure of it, when I grabbed my wand and checked, there were a myriad of people in the spell's range, enough that it magnified the headache when I got all of the information.

Not even a minute after performing the spell, the door opened and in stepped Dame Percival, clad in her blue armour. She raised her hands and pulled off her helmet, all at once the armour disappeared, and what was left beneath was a woman clad in a thick jumper and sweat pants.

She brushed her hair back and shot at me the most disappointed expression, as though a parent had been bottling it in for a decade expecting to release it all in one go.

"Well," she said. "What you did was rather stupid."

"It was smart when Merlin and I were hashing it out," I said. "We knew the targets, set things up reasonably expecting victory and we would have gotten them it too if it weren't for those damned Orders of Magnitude kids."

"I don't mean that," said Dame Percival. "I mean beyond that. People caught footage of you. You've forced us to, amongst other things, work so that we quell any fear that an _other_ -worlder is meddling with our affairs."

"Well," I said. "That's particularly _worldist_ of you."

She pursed her lips. "You're too old for unamusing humour, Mr Potter," she said. "What you did could land us in a lot of trouble. It could land you into trouble."

"Or it could be seen as the boon it is," I said. I pointed my wand at a vase at the foot of my bed. A flick and it broke, a twist and it reformed. "People saw me do this, they'll likely more be talking about that than the fact that I'm from another world."

Dame Percival snorted. "You underestimate the stupidity of people, Mr Potter," she said. "Particularly when they're in large groups."

I shrugged. "Maybe," I said. "I try and not fixate on depressing topics, and that's one of them." I thought about the Wizarding World and how it could turn on you as easily as it had fallen in love with you. I thought of the year that Dumbledore and I had spent virtually hated by most because they'd been too scared to face the truth.

I thought about all that and then pushed it aside, focusing on something else.

"Enigma's a stranger," I said. "He's got this ability that I think sort of makes you hopeless a little? It makes it so your thoughts head downstream, that you know you're not going to win and you sort of don't want to face him."

She looked far off before she gave a nod. "Do you know what a grab-bag cape is, Mr Potter?" she asked and I shook my head. "Well, people on this world _trigger_ to get their powers. Something bad happens, really bad, they get powers. When powers are gotten in large groups, a person tends to have more than one power.

"That was our running hypothesis with the Orders of Magnitude. They play at being trumps, sure, but those are few and far between. With the only trumps that are truly that in the UK being me, Gelatinous and Hellscape. With what you've just told me, it's given us a little room into figuring out how it is they do what they do. As we've come to understand it, their abilities are three-fold: Mover, thinker and, thanks to you, stranger."

"Which still doesn't tell you a lot, I notice," I said. "Those terms are vague."

"They are," she said and she sighed. "But anything else might be cumbersome for an unknown cape. At any rate, with the information you've given us, we should be able to look back and figure out what their powers are. Now," she said, "on to other matters: The meeting."

"I told you I'm not attending that," I said.

"And you don't have to," she said. "It's already over. We spoke to your Minister of…Magic, and members of the Group, and generalised a way to move forward."

"Went well, I hope."

She shrugged. "We generalised a direction," she said. "But that direction needs to be implemented. Tomorrow I'll have to talk to the Prime Minister and that will stretch on for at least a few weeks before a decision is made on their part. Hopefully, if all goes well, you'll set up your anchor and a conference might be held in person between the members of our two parallel countries. If all goes well from then on, we'll then spread out to the rest of the world."

"That's good," I said. "What did you decide about me, then?"

"We hadn't concluded on that front," she said. "But the public is likely to conclude for us, now. I wouldn't be surprised if we were contacted by representatives from the rest of the world to see if you wouldn't fix up the damage caused by the Endbringers."

 _That's very good._

I wouldn't be able to do it on my own, but with a lot of wizards on the job it wouldn't take too long. It could even be the route that the Group moved to make money, hiring some witches and wizards that were competent in the Reparo Spell and sending them here to fix buildings. Of course, that would be hard with the restriction of Inter-World travel, but I could see that changing, at least one-way, in the future, and if that could change, then it also made sense that wizards and witches be allowed to come here to see if they couldn't face the Endbringers.

Tourism was still out, but money could be made from this world and, most importantly, people could be helped.

"I think this would work better for us," I said. "If I became a hero, fixed things and then people were told that I was from another world and that the people there could also do the same thing…"

Dame Percival hummed. "I also had the same thought," she said. "I also had the thought that you might have thought this and were working at an angle to get your people her so war might be easier." I made to speak but she held up a hand.

"Full disclosure, Mr Potter, our thinker is on the other side of the room and he's been searching if you were indeed thinking along those lines." I frowned, my stomach starting to twist. She reached into her ear and pulled out a small nub. "I'm not hearing anything, which means I'm not being guided. I'm about to tell you three secrets that might, if told to the right people, ruin us. As recompense for what I just did.

"The first: Sir Daniel's power is known by the public to be a slow moving projectile that causes large area damage, but that's not the entire truth. He also has the ability of shooting another, considerably faster projectile that, when it hits, lets him see the target indefinitely if he doesn't switch it out.

"The second: I am not a tinker, but a trump. I can imbue various effects for objects I touch. The more restrictions I set, the more powerful I can make an object. The third: The King's Men are failing. Our numbers have fallen sharply because of our Endbringer participation and we aren't as flashy as the Suits which means we can't depend on merchandising. The meagre number of parahumans that we have now, are perhaps the last members of the King's Men before we go defunct.

"We need this to go well. We need this to succeed, but even with that in mind, we aren't willing to compromise the safety of our world."

I looked at her for a long I sighed. I appreciated her honesty, and even without that I could understand the paranoia to a level. There was the likelihood, with what the people in this world were used to, that I was a villain from my world and this was all a long-term rouse to take over.

"Can I do something? To make sure you're telling the truth?"

"Isn't controlling my mind?" she asked.

"It would be termed as a master effect, yes," I said.

"A moment," she said. "Mad Hatter. Would you mind stepping into the room?"

The door opened and a man being led by Puppeteer, only distinguishable from her puppets because the wood of her costume stopped at her neck, and black hair falling to her back. The Mad Hatter, was a man dressed in a black suit with orange stripes running through it, a top hat atop his head with reeds coming out of it.

The man had his mouth firmly shut.

"Mad Hatter. Would you check that Mr Potter isn't going to permanently master me?"

The man didn't nod, only staring off into space.

"Go ahead Mr Potter," she said.

"He pointed his wand," the Mad Hatter said as I pointed my wand. "He moved it in a rehearsed motion, one he'd been taught since his days at…school." The man flinched a little as he said that.

"Confundus," I said.

"The spell was one meant to loosen the mind of the subject, and he knew it well especially when he could compare it to the Imperius Curse," said Mad Hatter and then he changed track. "He was a little perturbed by him, that he could read himmm—The spell was set so that it wouldn't last so long, that he only had a set amount of suggestions before its effect ended. He would tell her, the Dame, only to tell the truth, because, much like her, he wanted to protect his…home.

"His task done, the Hatter focused, turning the wide reaching effect inwards and seeking to control his body. It was hard, but he had been taught, told to shrink it down until—" He stopped talking.

I wanted more than anything to focus on the enigma that was the man, but there was something else. I asked the Dame to tell the truth and then asked her to repeat all of what she'd said if, and _only_ if it was the truth. She did and I rested a little easier.

I thanked Puppeteer for making the call that had landed me here and, feeling still a little groggy from Merlin's mist, I put up protective enchantments and went back to sleep. I didn't know what tomorrow would bring, put this world was already wrapping me in its coils and I was liking it.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"Fuck, you're different," I said. "Did you drink Polyjuice potion or something?"

Merlin was a little shorter than me, her skin darker and her build portly, but even so it looked like it might all be muscle. She wasn't wearing her costume, but then she didn't really where much in the way of costumes: Just clothes that had a combat feel to them and nothing to hide her face. But then, with what I understood about her power, it didn't matter if she was wearing a mask or not since she could change her face.

"Secondary body," she said. "The last one was damaged enough that I had to go back to an old model." She let out a huff. "I'll be limited for the next month, scrounging up money so that I can make a good body. Won't be able to fly, which will be a bitch." She sighed. "I really hate the Orders of Magnitude."

I hummed. "Tell me about it. Haven't fought them long, but those guys seem like they can be annoying. Particularly Enigma, at least Mystery I managed to hit before I had to fight Enigma. Even broke Mystery's sword in the fight, I think it might have been tinker technology."

Merlin grinned and slapped me across the shoulder. "Good on you," she said. "You and Percival met. She told you about everything?" I nodded. "Shot you the look?"

"You've been under it?" I said.

Merlin shrugged. "I'm still learning the ropes and I'm in a leadership position," she said. "Makes sense that I would have slip ups since I wasn't mentored." There was something in her voice that I couldn't quite read as she said the last.

"Pressure," I said.

"Says the war hero that was obviously one from a young age," she said. I gave her a look and she held up her hands. "It's not information I got from the Hatter, though that you really know about the lengths of his abilities, yes, that is a constant fear you're going to have that you're being monitored."

"How do you live with it?" I asked. Now that she'd reminded me it was hard not to feel as though I was being watched, an uneasy feeling that the Mad Hatter was the next room over running his abilities over me.

"You just do," she said. "You have to trust that the people around you wouldn't go to those lengths. Which might be harder for you since you're an unknown and thus paranoia deems it so you be checked on, but…" She shrugged. "Let's just leave it, yeah? Move onto happier subjects. Our plan worked, even if we didn't capture the Artful Dodgers."

"Yeah," I said. "Confident enough that I might even go out and get myself an apartment. Seems I'll be staying for a little while."

"You could always stay here," she said. "I'm sure they would let you. Do you even have money to be here?"

"Blocks of gold," I said. "It's what we use as currency. That and others, and only…it's…our world, the magical side, is on the small side and it's vastly different to this."

"Let me guess," she said. "You lot took the secrecy path, right? It would fit into the whole magic theme your world has going."

"Magic theme?" I said. "Are you still on that this isn't magic, thing?"

"Hey," she said and she shrugged. "My ability's showing me ways to replicate your 'magic.' So…"

"I don't know enough about the theory behind magic to win this, I feel," I muttered. "But, tell me to introduce you to Hermione if she ever makes the leap. I'm sure she'd love to prove you wrong." A grin had slipped onto my expression. It hadn't even been a week that I'd been gone and I already missed her, missed all of them.

"Girlfriend?" said Merlin.

"No. One of my best-friends. Probably saved my life more times than I can remember."

"Part of the whole war thing, then?" she asked as she turned to look at me. Her eyes were a red colour and I could see that they had metal plates that approximated to an iris, it was narrowed. "Sorry," she said and I realised that I had frowned. "I keep pushing because a part of me is interested in this war, in your world. I can want to see another world's development where powers are concerned."

"We've got monsters just like you guys," I said. "They aren't as numerous as yours, or as flashy. But those with sufficient power cause a lot of destruction. More social than anything." I let out a sigh. "This is really getting into depressing territory," I said. "Change the subject?"

"Yeah," she said. "Okay…um…How about talking to Charlotte? The Puppeteer? Her power means that she has to _build_ her puppets, or at least craft them. But here ability works beautifully with certain tinkers."

"And with how vague magic is, when you look at it on the ability front?"

Merlin nodded. "You might be able to help her get her puppets stronger," she said. "I've been limited in what I can do because of the restrictions of my powers. I had to go through all the process of building an internal plasma gun, and even then, the thing came out large and clunky."

"Charms aren't really my thing," I said. "At least…" I shrugged. "Never mind. I'll just do it and see how far I get." I had six years of magical education under my belt and I could use that to work my way through any problems that got in my way.

Merlin smiled a little. "I'll speak to Sir Bors," she said. "Get a consultant contract up so that you don't have to spend your own money."

"That's not necessary," I said, thinking about how the King's Men were failing, taking more money from them didn't seem like the right thing to do.

Merlin waved it off. "This is an investment," she said. "With the wins that this will give us, we'll get more money in the long run. Don't refuse it, knowing the other leaders of the King's Men, they might consider you working for free charity and they don't like that when it's pointed towards them."

With a sigh, I shrugged. "Point me in Charlotte's direction?"

She did and I went.

888

A part of me had thought this world was one of non-stop excitement, villains coming out of the woodwork every single opportunity they could, but that wasn't the case.

After the skirmish with the Artful Dodgers, for two days there was nothing to do on the whole superhero side of things. Most of the time I spent with Dame Percival and Sir Kay, talking about the novel things that magic could be turned towards as they spoke to the right people.

"It's good that you're a little known," said Sir Kay, "even if that wasn't the way we would have gone about it. But, that also helped. The thinkers working for Parliament got that _we_ weren't the ones who planned this and your being from another world means you're a blind spot in certain areas."

"Is that true?" I said, musing aloud.

Dame Percival nodded. "When we were first talking to you, there were aspects of you that the Mad Hatter couldn't reach," she said. "We've noticed that the closer he gets to information about your world, the harder it is for him to pull information."

"I don't understand that," I said. "But then, I don't understand how the Mad Hatter's abilities work."

Sir Kay looked at Dame Percival for a moment and the woman gave a minute nod. He let out a short breath. "This is in the strictest of confidence."

"Of course," I said.

He nodded, but I could see he didn't like it. My reading on the King's Men was that he was one of the founders, and that he would defer to her, especially when he was old and, at least from how he spoke, coming from money seemed odd. I had to take a step back from that, remind myself that how the people worked in this world was different from how the people in my world worked. Maybe that wasn't true at all.

Even with this line of thinking, my mind noted it as _odd_ that he was deferring to her.

"Different parts of the world," he started, "and parahumans act differently. The 'game' between heroes and villains plays itself out differently. In some places, they are loud and bombastic, and in others they are cloak and dagger. The UK, excepting groups like the Brass Bulls, is largely cloak and dagger.

"This largely plays into the deception that's shown in how abilities are shown to work, we put ourselves so that we seem weaker, add an air of mystery. Power sets are used so that you look in one direction—or force you to look in one direction, as it were with the Artful Dodgers—while they truly act in another direction. We're no different," he said. "We hide our abilities to either bolster ourselves or have a trump card when it's needed.

"The Mad Hatter is used in the former direction. Most of the villains know him as a thinker on par with Enigma or Big Brother, with the limitation that you must be close. But it's further limited albeit more powerful."

He took a breath, and I could see that he didn't want to do away with the advantage that this provided. But the deferment. I had to wonder if they were playing me, _handling_ me. But even if that were the case I could understand it. They were giving me a lot of information that they hadn't told anyone, information that could hurt them. Showing that degree of trust couldn't come easy, even if it was manipulation. Because this was putting us on slight uneven ground with me having the power.

"The Mad Hatter's true ability is to see the past. He sees in its totality with everyone in his range, and using that, his power compiles the necessary information to read what a person is doing and, when pushed, to predict what they might do."

"Where you're concerned," said Dame Percival. "It's hard because he can't look too far behind. His sight works from your appearance here which means the information he gives out is limited to things you've done or said, leaving some blind spots when it comes to predicting you."

Which meant that even if they were using the ability on me, the amount they could get was limited. Now that I was thinking about it, it made sense what he'd said during the Confounding of Dame Percival. He'd said school instead of calling it Hogwarts.

Did that mean, then, that he could get _more_ the longer I spent in this world? Read more from my character the more I interacted? Could I stand not to do anything because of that fear?

Probably: Yes, yes, no.

"So you're thinking this will be the same with other thinkers?" I said. "That they won't be able to look into my world?"

"We think so," said Sir Kay. "But that doesn't mean anything to the thinkers that can look forward. My point: We weren't suspect, this was a scheme that you and Merlin pitched and she and you both will be reprimanded in a way that looks good."

I groaned. "I'm not liking the direction this is going," I muttered.

"You'll have an escort every time you appear," said Sir Kay. "One of the leaders of our group. We've also been asked to put means of tracking you, because even with the Mad Hatter telling us otherwise, we can't help but be suspicious that your world might work in the shadows."

I nodded. "I suppose I'll be tagged by Sir Daniel?" Dame Percival nodded. "Okay. But this means I can go out, right? Keep fighting for justice?"

"After a week-long course on proper procedure, yes," said Dame Percival. I couldn't help another groan.

"Guess even if you go to another world you can't escape having to sit through a course," I mutter. "But I'll do it." I looked at them. "I want to help," I said, and I meant it, because in this world it was easy to see when you were helping. I didn't think that villains had much a hand in politics which made things a little easier to keep track of.

"Good," said Dame Percival, smiling. "I'll delegate that the right information be sent your way and we'll alter the contract accordingly to factor everything in." They both stood. "There's to be a meeting today with a representative of the Prime Minister. We'll tell you how everything goes after the meeting on the involvement of your world, beyond you, in ours."

Sir Daniel tagged me, touching me and his hand flashing blue before the thing was done. With that, I could leave their base to look for an apartment and Charlotte, since Merlin was still busy building a new body, helped me move around.

London was different, the names were still the same, but entire sections of the city were filled with buildings I didn't recognise. Charlotte told me that one of the Endbringers had attacked the city, and that sixty percent of the then, King's Men, had fallen under Behemoth's onslaught.

"It's why the Enlightened are really the first people to get a Kill Order in these parts," she said. She was taller than me, dark skinned and with the stylised 'unkempt' hair, and she had sharp features that made me think Asian ancestry in there.

"Their own deal is trying to foster enough chaos that it draws the Endbringers near," she continued. "Luckily, they haven't succeeded, but what they're doing really nettles everyone. So many rising heroes died when Behemoth attacked, the King's Men, which were set to rival the Protectorate, losing some of their momentum. The way they act seems like they're rubbing salt in our collective wounds."

Her features were warped in a disdain I hadn't seen while working with her. When she'd looked at her puppets, there had been a love there, what I imagine someone who crafted hand-made dolls might have, or the devotion some buyers might have towards them. But this was another side of her, one I hadn't seen even as we had discussed other villains.

It showed me that Endbringers were something else in this world, something that was to be taken seriously and not played with. That the Enlightened sought to play with them afforded the Enlightened an animosity not even reserved for people who were sent to the Birdcage.

"Is taking them down, hard?" I asked. I hadn't really been able to read up on them.

"They have the right mix of abilities," she said. We stopped talking a little as people by us passed, though I was given to understand that people speculated about powers a lot in this world. "Especially Herald. He's our strongest master here, not like the Puppeteer and her puppets but controls people."

 _Imperius. Confundus. Veritaserum._ All other manner of techniques that might make the people of this world uncomfortable. That wasn't even going into the Killing Curse, but that was one secret I was planning to keep until it was really needed.

"There's a rumour going," and as she said this she looked at me, "that's he's set up a dead man's switch. So, that if he were to die or be arrested, then a lot of people would get hurt."

Which was probably now since the Enlightened were set to start their machinations.

I'd have to speak with the Group to see their leanings towards this.

Charlotte thought about finding an agent, but I dissuaded her, I just needed to be pointed for a block of flats and I'd be fine. It didn't take too long, even if the place was a little on the seedy side: I didn't have proper documentation which meant I needed a place that wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Are you sure about this?" she said as she looked around the flat. A studio apartment that was on the small side, with the walls looking as though they'd _seen_ things but it was on the cheap side, the neighbours looked like they didn't care much about coming and goings of others, and I didn't really care about the size. "It's…"

"Fine," I said. "I have some furniture in my bag—I love me my creature comforts—and I can expand this place to be on the comfortable side."

She looked at me and then shrugged. "Tinkers are such bullshit," she muttered. "Let's get the 'paperwork' done and then grab lunch?"

"Yeah," I said.

888

Almost a week in and I was starting to grow used to how creepy Charlotte's workroom was. It was much like Merin's in that there were body parts strewn across the room, arms hanging off of the ceiling and heads _everywhere._ But it was steadily getting better to be here without the creep factor.

"I've fortified the wall so that you can go all out without fear of breaking it," I said to Sir Bors. It had gotten to the point that I knew all of them out of costume, now.

The man stood straight, arms at his back and with a placid and rigid expression on him. It was the sort of expression that reminded me heavily of Headmistress McGonagall, especially when Fred and George had still attended Hogwarts.

"Then let's get it done," he said. "Much though I have an interest in this, there's still much to be done, preparations to be made."

"Of course, sir," said Charlotte.

She moved to a tall and thin puppet, touched it and it came alive. It moved into a space we'd cleared along the room. Sir Bors moved and touched the puppet, there was a crack, and between one instance and another the puppet was against a wall. It got up a moment later and walked closer to us, it slowly started turning.

"No damage," she said and she smiled. "This makes things easier. I can go all out now. Working with Merlin I might create another puppet that had the plasma gun without having so much time in its creation. Won't have to push much effort into bulking it up, which means no loss in manoeuvrability."

"Good," said Sir Bors. "I'll leave you to it." And then he left.

I looked at Charlotte who was already in the process. "Merlin wasn't kidding when he said the guy was concise."

Charlotte shrugged. "You get used to it," she said and she was already carving out another clone, only these were smaller, about the size of my thumb. Her ability meant that she could see and hear through her puppets and, going in-line with the ideology in the Kingdoms, she kept that part under wraps. Officially, people thought she implanted surveillance gear in the things to keep track of them.

It was a way to think towards now that I was here, now that I had to interact with a world like this, which meant my glasses had to be changed.

"Infrared," she'd told me. "I use that to keep track of him. His power doesn't work all through the spectrum. Just visible light." Which meant I had to think along those lines while I altered my glasses, making it so that at a thought they might be able to black out, but still leave me able to see.

"What about Syllu Benywaidd? Does it work the same with her?" I'd asked.

"No. It's a meet eyes thing. Indirect eye-contact that leaves you locked," she said. "She just has to meet your gaze and she has you. With the Artful Dodgers together it means you can't focus, becoming flustered between looking at them while you're attacked at the periphery."

"But…" I frowned. "Even indirect? Can you go more on that?"

"Um…" Her hand reached, grasping for an implement and then returning to the leg she was working on. "It's…you still have to see the eyes," she said. "So if you've got something that doesn't allow light to pass through it, then her power's nullified. But if that's true, you've still got a brute coming after you that you can't see."

"I don't think I have to worry on that front," I said. I could set it so that the glass of my glasses they could transfigure into something else while the charm to make me see was still active. I reached into my rucksack and pulled out a Charms book that divided them on spell families.

With the variant of the Human Revealment Charm, I would be able to see humanoid figures with the effect passing through walls—except where they were enchanted against this. Unlike the Human Revealment, it didn't have a large range or offer me knowledge on where they were and where they were moving for a limited amount of time; the variant would mean I would have to actually _look_ in the direction and see.

But it would do, with the figures I would be able to react to the unseen.

It took far longer than I'd expected, but with no crime to stop, I didn't really have much to do and I had to move through trial and error.

A full week after my arrival and there was finally something I could respond to.

"A violent trigger in Belfast," said Dame Gawain, Makhai was with her. "Pattern says the parahuman will disappear within a matter of hours if we, or the Suits, don't offer them protection. I'd rather it be us than the Suits. Let's act quickly, but if this turns out longer I've already contacted Splice and Sir Galahad to make their way here. You'll have to check back in fifteen minutes."

I nodded.

888

 _Homenum Revelio,_ I thought and nothing happened on my end, instead the edges of the effect activated, a myriad of small explosions going off.

We weren't in the middle of the city, but a suburban neighbourhood. The effect was much like the aurora borealis, streams of colour that were slowly spreading outwards and causing damage as they spread. In the small space since we'd gotten news of the attack the effect had spread out most of the property.

The house in the middle of the effect was on fire, parts having been warped into metal, other into glass and still more into other matter. The neighbours had rightly kept their distance, but I didn't like that so many of them had pulled out their phones, and still others had genuine video cameras to record what was _danger._

But I couldn't see the person responsible, which scared me because it could only mean that they were still inside the house.

"I'm going to try something," said Dame Gawain and she disappeared only to reappear being hurled back, before she even landed and disappeared and reappeared standing beside us: She arced with electricity. "Didn't work," she said. "Their effect _persists."_

"My turn," I said and I waved my wand. The effect was pushed back all at once, only to be return with vigour, cracking as it clashed: electricity sparked at points, stretching outwards trying to slam at us only for my shields to activate. The moment it hit, cracks stretched out on my automatic shield: Two or three strong hits and it would come apart.

Dame Gawain looked around. "Could you do that again," she said. "I think I might take the time to run through, search the place for where he might be. Could you teleport in? Take them out?"

I shook my head. "I need to know where I'm going," I said. "Beyond the abstract…I…" Then I shook my head because it wasn't going to work; love was a component of how the Deluminator worked and it wasn't enough in this case. "Never mind. No."

"Okay," she said. "The Belfast Boys might be here soon if they aren't already here. Could you set up shield, Gwydion. I don't want us disturbed."

I nodded and pointed my wand skyward. I conceptualised what I wanted and started: The Shield Charm was my first and it was followed by a Muggle Repelling Charm, and then slight curses so that they might they might disable the Belfast Boys. I was starting to put up an Imperturbable Charm up when I felt the first impact.

It was a body, coming from the sky and slamming heavily into the shield: Cracks formed, far too many than should have been possible with what I knew about the strength levels of the Belfast Boys, but then coming from the sky added momentum.

There were three of them: Big Brother was the resident thinker and he had the ability to know of an incoming trigger, which worked well when his trade was _disappearing_ new triggers. The other two were Binary and Swift. The former, the King's Men were sure, played herself off as a trump: She had the ability to form two clones that had different powers. It could go from speed, to strength, to intangibility, to ungainly flight, but she'd modelled it so it seemed like a clone could only have one power. There had been enough inconsistency that the King's Men thought she had one power that was very versatile. The latter could run really fast and throw points of light that detonated.

Another of Binary's clones appeared in the sky and crashed into the shield, popping out of existence but leaving thick red lines across my shields.

"A minute, maybe two," I said. Then my shield set would be gone and we'd have a fight on our hands. A part of me wanted that thrill, but there was someone inside that house that needed help on threat of being disappeared, that had to be the focus.

 _But it shouldn't have been this easy,_ I thought because there was still the Muggle Repelling Charm and it should have kept them from attacking us. Unless they had abilities similar to Makhai.

I pushed that aside as Dame Gawain spoke, "Then let's get this done, if you would?"

"Partis Temporus!" I said and the effect washed aside. Dame Gawain arced with electricity and then disappeared. She appeared before the effect faded, getting close to me, maybe to hide. Except this time there was no electricity, just small explosions that were so far away that they didn't even activate my personal shields.

"Not downstairs," she said. "Another go? Maybe they're upstairs."

I nodded and repeated. She disappeared, but this time she wasn't fast enough, she appeared in the air rolling around too fast for me to do anything and she was thrown into the boundary of where my shields had been put. She hit and then was thrown back and downwards before I pointed and said, "Aresto Momentum!"

She stopped and then started to fall only to disappear and appear on the ground. She was breathing a little out of sorts.

"That was uncomfortable," she said and she brushed herself off. "I'll have to go again, be prepared for the backlash. The effect is thicker towards the closer I am to him."

"Him?" said Makhai.

"Boy, eleven or twelve," said Dame Gawain. "I couldn't talk to him though I could see that he would be non-responsive. He's terrified."

"Let me try something," I said, my voice hitching a little. "It's violent, but—" I looked up as there was a flash of light, simultaneous detonations going off and causing deeper fissures to spread across my enchantments.

"Go ahead," said Dame Gawain.

"Bombarda Maxima!" I said and pointed. The spell flew out and hit the edge of the effect: It was as though it had hit a wall, it detonated on passing through the edge of the aurora borealis and the effect was magnified, the explosion growing into a large ball of fire that spread outward.

"Protego Horribilus," I quickly said and the shield formed, taking the brunt of the impact. "Bugger."

"Makhai," said Dame Gawain. "Are you seeing anything we can use? A pattern we might be missing?"

"Nothing useful," said Makhai. "Just cataloguing the effect that I'm seeing. It should be noted that it's getting closer, the speed it's moving has steadily been getting slower."

"Good to know," the woman said. She looked up. "They'll have it broken soon, and with her power they might actually be able to pass through. Gwydion," she said. "If you'd bring us the Puppeteer before your shield breaks, hopefully your unbreakable puppets might be able to pass through."

"She's not a front-line combatant," I said, frowning.

"I'll keep her safe," she said. I nodded and then turned on the spot, Charlotte was in her workshop and she quickly got four puppets up, one of them opening and letting her go into it. I turned and the five of us returned to Belfast.

She looked up, the sky was red where the lines had formed but I could still see Binary there, one of her clones was at the top of the shield and bashing it, which meant the cursed shields had been done away with.

Puppeteer gestured and one of her puppets stumbled forward, something I hadn't ever noticed her doing before. It entered the effect and the swirling colour coalesced around it, small pops erupting as the effect tried to do its worst. The puppet reached the house and moved through a hole inside, moving faster than speeds a person could achieve.

"Broken," she said. "I reached him and he was in a ball on the floor, muttering under his breath. But that close the puppet lasted a few second before the effect overcame it."

"One more spell," I said and I moved my wand to enchant the puppet. It ran into the house again and after a short moment, the effect disappeared. This was also the moment my shields broke and the clones on the shield fell too fast, crashing into the house and causing holes to form where they landed on the ground.

"Distance," said Dame Gawain before she arced with electricity and disappeared. I grabbed Makhai and Puppeteer and turned on the spot, appearing on the far end of the street; I looked at the ground floor of a house and turned, appearing inside.

Puppeteer would be able to work even with being hidden, but the same couldn't be said for Makhai. I had to wonder why he was here in the first place when the people he would be going against had super speed. But then, I wasn't an ideal fit to. I could be an exception though, because already ideas started flooding through my mind on how to move forward.

I started turning only for Makhai to stop me, pulling out a pair of binoculars from his side. "I'll need you to send me to the roof," he said. "Gathering intel."

I didn't argue, because there was no time to argue. I Apparated outside, in front of the house, and then turned again to appear on top of a roof, letting go of Makhai, and then quickly disappearing again. I didn't appear in the house, because that would have made me lose my wand more than anything, instead I Apparated on the roof of the house opposite the target.

There was a tree there, large with age, and it was hit by a spell that caused it to come alive: Branches swaying and roots causing bulges in the earth as they pulled themselves out. I didn't watch this, instead turning and appearing in a backyard and breaking their fence apart. Before the pieces could fall they stopped, turned to sparrows that were clearly made of wood and then were flying off into the house of the incident.

They had speed, all of them in there did, but even with that speed there was only so much that they could handle. I needed to flood them with activity, enough so that Dame Gawain and the boy would be able to escape in the chaos. But then, their abilities also meant they could take out large swathes of my birds.

I broke another fence, forming more birds but this time I added the Gemini Curse into the mix. A Human Revealment Charm revealed that there were five people in the house: Dame Gawain, the boy, two of Binary's clones, and Swift.

And from the explosions that were detonating every few seconds I knew that my birds were doing their job. But I couldn't stay and watch. I Apparated back to London, ran another Human Revealment and then quickly Apparated through searching for the two people that were at base: One of them was Merlin and she wasn't decent enough for a fight, parts of her body still being in the process of installation, the other was Splice, but she also wasn't good in a fight on her own.

"Sir Galahad said he'd be here soon," the woman said.

I nodded and then turned again.

My birds were now a veritable flock, darkening the sky and swooping down at times and attacking. They wouldn't kill, just restrain if they had the opportunity, but unlike Ellie, the people here had abilities which meant wooden restraints wouldn't do much to keep them bound. Swift had her explosions and Binary either had strength or could pop out of existence.

I appeared in Merlin's workshop.

"The fight over?" she said, too blasé.

"No. I just need metal," I said. "The strongest stuff that you have."

She shrugged. "Not much, but…" She pointed in the direction.

"Accio," I said, and a block the size of a television set flew towards me. I didn't ask, it shrunk as it got closer and I grabbed it and turned on the spot. I enlarged it on appearance and formed more birds, I started enchanting them when my shields activated and immediately broke apart.

I turned and appeared on the roof. One of Binary's clones was there, batting back my birds and breaking them apart which caused more birds to form. She looked in my direction and leapt, only for a spell to slam into her and stop her mid-air: The Impedimenta jinx.

The clone popped out of existence and I directed my birds towards the house while turning and now watching.

My birds had gotten so large in number that some of them weren't even attacking anymore, instead sitting on perches and watching as others in their flock attacked and formed more of themselves. Most them were just flying around in the sky, screeching and looking intimidating. The tree I'd made come alive was shattered into small pieces that couldn't move on their own and the house looked as though it was close to tipping over with the damage it had incurred.

I had to wonder how Dame Gawain was still holding up in there. Could she even move with the amount of birds?

But then they would attack her or the boy. At least if I hadn't messed anything up.

Three cracks and flashes of light and Swift stumbled out of the house. Her hands were moving so far that I couldn't see them, throwing small balls of yellow light, but she wasn't moving as fast as she could, laden with the wooden and metal growths on her legs, back, chest and half of her face.

Binary appeared, moving towards Swift even as birds threw themselves at her, stuck and then reverted to the matter they'd been before. At one point, she became a walking wood-metal golem before she suddenly surged out of her encasing and grabbed Swift and then ran. My birds chased after them but a clone would appear and take impact before I could catch them both, and Swift was still sending off her explosions.

I could get at least one of them, I thought and I tapped myself thrice, making sure I had disappeared before turning on the spot and appearing in front of the pair. The Stunners were too close and they couldn't dodge, but when Binary's clone was hit it popped out of existence.

I grabbed the unconscious Swift before another Binary could form and turned, appearing in London again. Both Sir Galahad and Splice were there.

"Be right back," I said and I deposited the woman with Merlin before grabbing them and appearing in Belfast again.

"Holy _shit,"_ Splice muttered, looking up into the sky. In the middle of the afternoon, it was now nearly night.

"Focus!" said Sir Galahad and the woman reacted. She let out a large breath and then the ground around us was littered with people who were dressed in Splice's costume.

"Three people in that direction that are odd," one of the Splices said, pointing. Sir Galahad and some of the Splices took off, more appearing as others started to disappear. Sir Galahad didn't have super speed, but it would have been easy to think along those lines as I saw him move; to keep up with him, Splice had to approximate teleportation with her clone creation and destruction.

They could deal with that, especially since some of my birds were following. I had to check on the kid, make sure that he and Dame Gawain were fine. I started turning when I faltered, because all at once all my birds disappeared, only to appear in another instance, doubling in number.

All the new creations started flying skyward only to disappear again as they were hit by something. I saw a man in the sky, wearing a black costume with a golden star on his chest: He was desperately firing lances of darkness that split apart into smaller points which hit my birds. He was a hero of the Suits, Shadow Star, and if he was here then—fire erupted in the sky and took out the birds that were close to capturing Shadow Star.

I put my wand at my throat and said, "Stop!" The birds stopped, but it took a little longer for the other heroes to respond. Dame Gawain chose that moment to appear out of the house, the sleeping boy in her arms. She looked beyond tired.

"They're not going to hurt you if you don't attack them," I said, my voice still booming. I did away with the spells keeping me concealed. "I'm a hero."

The two stopped after that, just as two more appeared: A man that was riding on a sinuous dragon and another person that was made entirely of rock. As a group, the four of them lowered, the birds parting to give them a path and landed in front of Dame Gawain.

"This is yours?" Shadow Star was saying as I appeared, gesturing towards the sky.

"One of ours, yes," said Dame Gawain. "You've likely read news of Gwydion."

"The new tinker," said the sole woman of the group, or at least I assumed she was the sole woman because I didn't know the rock person's gender. The woman called herself Ace, while the rock person was Obelisk and the old man Grand Mage. "He's a lucky find, isn't he?" she said. "With a bullshit speciality like this," she gestured at the sky. "What is it? You can tell a fellow tinker, can't you?"

"Magic," I said.

She let out a breath. "Damn, another one?" she said. "Guess you aren't as rare as I thought, Grand Mage."

The man said nothing, only looking at us with a placid expression.

"My apologies," said Shadow Star. "We heard there was a violent trigger and we assumed it was some sort of master ability."

"Understandable," said Dame Gawain. "But the matter is almost handled. If you're looking to help, Sir Galahad and Splice are chasing after the remaining members of the Belfast Boys. I'm sure he could use your help."

"We'll do what we can," said Shadow Star. He looked at me. "It was a pleasure to meet you," he said. "Know that you can consider the Suits friends if you ever need them."

"Um…sure," I said. The four took off, moving in the direction Galahad and Splice had moved. I looked at Dame Gawain, seeing her frown, and then I looked at the kid who was sleeping peacefully. "He's alright?"

She nodded. "Did my best to hide him when I could," she said. "But I couldn't carry him and run too. He needs a hospital but it can't be in Belfast." I grabbed her shoulder and Apparated to Manchester, then grabbed Makhai and Puppeteer, as well as getting what remained of her puppet, and got them to Manchester too.

I searched over the neighbourhood, seeing if the others were still here and when it showed that they weren't, I started vanishing the rest of my birds and fixed all the damage I'd done. As was usually, people were watching, I made sure to give them a show.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"Why does he look so…happy?" said Mrs Costello, her hands wrung and covering her mouth. Her eyes were red and her hair frazzled, clothing looking as though it had been hastily put on.

Mr Costello looked a little better, though I could see behind the forced placid expression that there was pain behind the blue eyes. The two, with me and Sir Galahad, were in a room neighbouring Brody's, the wall transfigured into glass so we could see beyond. With how they boy's power worked, I didn't trust how long magic lasted on him and I didn't want him to lose his aunt and uncle above everything else.

"A Cheering Charm," I said. "I haven't used the spell in a while which means I might have gone overboard a little. But if he registered being scared he could destroy the room."

"Much like he destroyed his—" His voice hitched and he took a breath. He looked at Sir Galahad. "My brother…"

"I'm sorry," said Sir Galahad, his head hanging low. "We found the bodies while searching through the house. They were…mutilated."

"Was it him?" said Mr Costello. "The boy?" There was anger as he said this, disgust that made me uncomfortable. Perhaps it was losing family that he felt this anger, and that he wanted to direct it at someone, but as someone who'd grown up under similar conditions…

I took a breath to calm myself, especially as I became aware that my wand had found my hand.

"Alfie," Mrs Costello said, and her voice was filled with chiding. Mr Costello recoiled a little, the anger fading and guilt taking its place. He took in a large breath.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just—"

"We understand, Mr Costello," said Sir Galahad, his voice filled with the deepest of sympathy. "These are trying times and are likely to get more so." The pair reacted, brows raised and giving their full attention to Galahad. "It wasn't Brody that killed his parents, from what we've seen his ability doesn't work in that direction."

"Someone else?" said Mr Costello. "Who? Why? My family never did anything to anyone. We're not of any particular attention that we'd have someone trying to kill us."

"Do you mind if I do something?" I said. "With my power?" They frowned at that. "It's going to ensure that you don't say the wrong thing at the wrong time. There's still a lot that's going to happen, and we don't want the public panicking."

"And it'll help you too," said Sir Galahad. "I know, from similar cases, that the not knowing is often the worst part. If you let Gwydion use his ability, it'll ensure we tell you all that we can."

They shared a look before Mrs Costello slowly nodded. "Anything," she said. I pointed my wand and moved it in a quick pattern, they both yelped, starting, but before they could do anything the spell was already placed: The Tongue-Tying Jinx, bound towards stopping certain information.

Sir Galahad nodded and then said, "Brody's home wasn't the only one that was attacked. It was just the loudest. We think that the perpetrator or perpetrators were trying to force trigger events. In many of the homes this was done, they didn't succeed, but with Brody, they finally did."

"The _fucking_ Belfast Boys," said Mr Costello while Mrs Costello sniffed. "First Aiden and now _this_ ," he said, each word filled with more heat. "They must have tortured him," the anger faltered as his voice faltered. "They must have gotten him to tell them where he lived and now…" The man couldn't stop himself, he broke down, throwing himself into his wife's embrace. "Family lost because of those bastards!"

I looked at Sir Galahad, his expression warped as he looked at the pair. That wasn't the information we had on everything that had happened, but saying otherwise would be interrupting the Costellos as they grieved. We were both quiet, watching as Mr Costello fought to regain composure.

"I'm sorry," he said, wiping at his eyes. "It's just…" The man couldn't finish the words, instead turning back to the window, towards Brody. "We'll have to move won't we, but even then we won't be safe."

Sir Galahad nodded. "For now yes," he said. "Over the next week you'll be living in a property Gwydion will be outfitting with protections. We'll begin processes for changing your identities, staging deaths and making this look like a parahuman attack gone wrong. It'll still be hard to hide from the right thinker, but we're hoping that Gwydion's protection cover that area."

"What about the rest of our family?" said Mrs Costello. "They'll need to know about this. Brody's grandparents on his mother's side, his other aunts and uncles."

"It'll be too hard hiding that many people," said Sir Galahad. "Which means a similar treatment to what we did to you. Ensure that people can't say certain things and other similar things. We'll get you employed as we're able, hopefully keeping it secret enough that the two things can't be connected. But this will take a little patience."

"Anything," said Mrs Costello. "Anything to protect him." Mr Costello gave a nod.

"What about him?" said Mr Costello. "His ability?"

"I'll be there to help you," I said. "Beyond the protections. I have a potion that will keep him calm, but it's not meant to be used for too long a time. He'll need to learn how to control his ability and I will help in that direction."

"He won't fight," said Mrs Costello. "He won't be a hero. He won't be a part of this world that took everything from him."

"It wasn't even a consideration," I said, my voice hard.

888

"They believe the wrong thing," I said as Sir Galahad and I left. The Costellos were in the room with Brody who I'd dosed with a Calming Draught, they were talking to the boy.

"For the time being, yes," he said. He looked tired and I didn't blame him, he'd fought two Binary clones before Shadow Star and his team had arrived with Splice only helping in offering moral support. The clones' abilities were versatile enough that she was hard to put down when she _was_ acting, it had nearly been impossible then because the she'd just fought without pretence.

I'd watched the videos, running through Splice's clones and popping them out of existence with a touch, then punching Sir Galahad hard enough the ground broke every time the man braced. Then there had been the other, choosing speed and doing its best at disrupting all of Splice's clones and weakening Sir Galahad.

All in all it meant that Big Brother and Binary had escaped. But we had a way towards finding them now.

"Your showing was great today," said Sir Galahad, and he shot me a smile that didn't entirely reach his eyes. "Bloody terrifying, but great. I didn't know you could do the whole bird swarm thing."

I returned my own shallow smile. "I finally remembered that this isn't my world," I told him, "and that things that could be easily countered weren't as such here." I let out a huff. "I'm a little scared though. Magic is temperamental at the best of times, and I was rushing through the spells. I made sure to undo it all, but if I missed something, I could be changing your world in some way."

"Changing it?" said Sir Galahad. "Should we be worried?"

I shook my head. "Magic is…conceptual in large part, which means spells can be on the subjective side, with emotion and circumstance playing a role on them. I've been in battle before and I've practiced the spell, a variant of it because the original was made by Seamus and that means it can be…explosive."

The image of the sky on fire filled my head. I shook my head again, getting my head in gear.

"I digress. I've been in battle before, which means I very likely got the important bits right: I had the right concept in mind—the birds didn't attack Dame Gawain or Brody, and they didn't kill, only captured—and there's enough of me in the spell that if something unforeseen happened, it wouldn't be disastrous."

Sir Galahad let out a sigh. "Good," he said and then he smiled. "Every time you do something it gets a little easier to think of what you do as magic." He let out a short snort. "Magic actually exists?"

"It does," I said and I really smiled as I thought about the good aspects of my world. "And it's wondrous."

He nodded and we walked in silence before he asked, "Are dragons real?"

"Yes?"

"Unicorns?"

"Yeah."

A large grin spread on him. "Christ," he said. "What a world you must live in." The grin made me think of Andrew and the wonder he'd shown when peering into this world. If this world wasn't so chaotic, a tourist venture would have really been the best thing for both worlds.

But that wasn't in the cards anymore. I chose to change track, focusing on something else, and that was one of the mysteries of magic.

The first direction Mad Hatter had reached was figuring out if there were any abilities the Belfast Boys had been hiding and thus we'd gotten a break down on what they could truly do: Big Brother wasn't a precog, instead he could touch an inanimate object and be able to see and hear in a large area around the object, with the area getting larger with how big the thing he was touching was; with his ability, he regularly tagged buildings throughout Belfast which meant he had an eye on most things.

Binary had one ability connected to the others. She could form clones and those clones came with the ability to increase and decrease their mass, as well and playing around with their density. The hitch being there was a certain distance that the clones had to stay around her person.

Wherever her clones were, she was most likely there too.

And Swift herself had a fairly straight forward ability set: Speed and those explosive star balls.

None of them had abilities similar in nature to Makhai, and yet they'd still managed to fight away the compulsion of the Muggle Repelling Charm. I'd have to investigate this, but first I needed to eat, Sir Galahad joined me before I had to go to my apartment for a short nap before the investigation started: By which I meant, calling Hermione.

She hummed for the longest time, looking at me but her eyes far off. I let her have the time, even though it was digging into the time I had to speak to her. But, after a week's recharge, I had capped the full amount of time: Three hours. I doubted we'd even dent that time.

"Have you used the spell before?" she asked. "Maybe it doesn't work on them because their abilities are magic in another form."

"It worked," I said. "The first time I got here. It was one of the reasons I met with the King's Men in the first place…"

"Go on," she said.

"Except it didn't work through out," I said, realisation hitting. "At one point it was something I wanted to happened, slight variations in wand movement that meant it affect only certain people, but I didn't spread that throughout my active spells. Merlin was able to wade through the effect of the Muggle Repelling Charm and I didn't even notice."

I frowned. "But then, it could very well be because she's a tinker," I said. "She might have technology that means she can fight through it, or at least replicate Legillimency."

"That's possible?" Hermione said.

I shrugged. "Right now, the woman's mostly robot," I told her. "She created something that makes her able to fly, she's got something in her ear or brain that means she can listen to radios, and she's got a computer in her eyes."

"A computer," said Hermione. "Can she shrink things too? Those things are large…but then, this is the future, they could be considerably smaller."

"But of being a tinker," I told her. "I just mentally think of it as being a Charms expert, but you can only enchant certain objects. She seems to be restricted on stuff she can put in her body—don't mention that I told you that, this world is big on its secrets—and I know this one guy who's also a tinker, but his means he can only create potions."

"All easy to explain as magic. Specific in nature," she said and then she waved her had. "But belabouring the point gives us nothing. Can you go and ask her? If the spell affects her, and can you test out if that guy you got before it still affected. It might be that his…power makes it so he's the only one the spell works on."

"I'll be right back," I said and I turned on the spot. I asked Merlin and then I went over to Makhai and did the test, returning to Hermione. "She said it worked on her, but then it was likely a stranger effect and she activated parts of her that meant she couldn't move, that she would scan the place. The spell also now doesn't work on Makhai."

"Okay," said Hermione. "Test it out on a person that doesn't have powers and then test it out on someone who does have powers, but don't tell them about the test."

I nodded and did just that. I Apparated to a library and enchanted a table with the Muggle Repelling Charm, it worked and people moved away. I returned to the base and enchanted a door to the toilet. I waited and watched as Splice moved to the door and went through, not noticing the spell. I tried it again, this time on a book and then I asked Puppeteer to pick it up for me, something I was trying.

She did without trouble.

"So the spell still works," said Hermione. "That's good, but it's also bad because it means magic is catching up." I frowned at that, unsure what she meant. "The Wizengamot is squabbling," she explained, "and a large part of it is centred around what we consider _muggle._ "

"Of course they are," I muttered under my breath. "They're trying to weasel out of helping, aren't they?"

"It hasn't even gotten to that point, yet," Hermione said and she sighed. "Mostly it's about expectation, about this reality versus that one. Which ties back to the squabbling. If those people are muggles, then what business do we have interfering in their affairs when we don't do the same here?"

I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair, then I frowned. "But if magic is catching up…" I said.

"Enough people believe that those aren't muggles that it's messing with the nature of certain spells," she said. "The concept behind them. But an argument might be in the woodwork for that too. We don't get involved with other _beings_ if their affairs don't endanger the Statute or muggles. What would be different this time?"

"Do we have people arguing on our side?" I asked.

"Zabini's one of the loudest," she said. "But that's mainly because he has a vested interest in our success, he sees the money he stands to make if the Ministry agrees to this. We've got others, people that know you're involved and are working at an angle and others still that are just interested in this. But it does have its own problem." She sighed and said, "Someone tried to break into the labs, steal our work. Our enchantments managed to keep them out, but I don't like this. It means we have to push more money into protective enchantments and security. We're thinking of even putting a Fidelius on the subject, even with the trouble that'll bring."

"That might make things harder on this side too," I said. "If the Fidelius Charm even stretches that far. Something else before I forget, it seems like our world is protected from the seers in this world that can look back through time."

"I'll tell the others," said Hermione. She smiled a little. "How _is_ that world treating you?" she asked. "You seem…different. Not entirely happy, but better than when you were here."

I shrugged. "This world is dark, but…" I shrugged again, not entirely sure how to phrase it. "But there's…less pressure? I'm not… _Harry Potter,_ here. I'm not even Harry, most of the people that know me call me Gwydion."

"Oh, Merlin," she muttered, running a hand through her face and rubbing the bridge of her nose. "You're a superhero, aren't you?"

"I am. But don't worry," I quickly said. "This world is bound by abstract rules that mean I'm unlikely to be killed. It's…It's crazy, but the dynamic here seems a little like a game. As long as you don't kill, then the game keeps moving. I'm a part of that."

"And how to the Endbringers fit into all of this?" she asked.

"They're the exceptions," I told her. "Sentient forces of nature, sort of. Everyone is scared of them, but there really isn't anything they can do because they're indestructible. I think it might also be the reason there's a 'game' in the first place. Villains outnumber heroes, especially because of all the deaths caused by the Endbringers. The villains help out a lot in those times."

"Incentivising the heroes to be a little lax in their handle the villains," she muttered under her breath.

I shook my head. "That looks a little incidental," I told her. "But then, I've been taken by everything to the point that I haven't really critically looked at it."

"Not that you would," she said. "Because where would be the fun in that?"

I gave her a small smile that quickly faded. "I was hoping that things would have moved along enough to get help," I told her. "I'm good at making protective enchantments but…There's this kid here, his parents were killed and he might be hunted because of how powerful he is. I'm going to hide him, but the really strong spell sets…"

"I get it," she said. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe get books so that you can transcribe things."

"Thanks," I said. "I'll be leaving then, get started on enchanting this place."

She nodded, moved to turn the mirror off before she said, "Out of curiosity, when do the Endbringers attack?" she asked.

"In less than a month, why?"

"No reason," she said. "Bye, Harry." The image blinked off.

I could no longer depend on the Muggle Repelling Charm to keep away parahumans, which either meant doing away with it or creating a variant, and coming up with spells wasn't something that was easy nor something I was gifted in. Which meant I was forced to take the former option.

I'd make due. I was at an advantage in this world in that they didn't have counter jinxes, except in the specific cases that they did. A simple transfiguration and Gemini Curse could take me far, which meant I should use that to my advantage, especially when we would be indirectly facing the Enlightened next.

But first there would be a lot of paperwork, all of which I decided to skip, handling other things that weren't just grunt work.

"We're staying here?" said Mr Costello as he entered the cabin. It was large for what it was, but it was still on the smaller end for a house, two separate rooms, a living room which afforded a view of the small kitchen. Not as large as the Costello's homes.

"We're still working through a battle plan," I told him. "There might be inter-villain workings since we captured one of the Belfast Boys, and with how things work in Belfast, we have to move slowly, be careful in the people we work with for threat they might be under the Collector's influence."

I saw understanding flicker on both of them.

The Collector was just that, but he did it with favours more than anything else, he could give you anything that was in reason and you would owe him in turn at a future date. For the longest time his influence hadn't been known, that was until the Mayor of Belfast had been found dead in his home, killed by a mercenary para group. But a message had been left after: All debts will be repaid.

It hadn't meant much for normal people, but those in the know had connected the abstract and one of them had posted it on the internet. It hadn't been much later that the unknown para had been dubbed the Collector.

Sussing out the amount of influence he had was hard, but to err on the side of caution the King's Men had left that task to the Suits who had more thinkers, and a group geared towards combat in that direction.

"Does that mean the Suits?" said Mrs Costello and there was something in her voice I couldn't quite read.

I nodded. "We'll be working with them throughout this investigation," I said. "Making sure that we get back everyone the Belfast Boys took, hopefully get back your nephew."

The pair gave me a smile that didn't quite reach their eyes.

"How will things work?" said Mr Costello. "With Brody?"

"I've already done some work," I said. "Put up emergency spells so that if his ability breaks out you're sent away from here and one us is alerted, but beyond that it'll be the Calming Drought like I said, with the stated directions. Hopefully everything will die down enough that I can work with Brody, see where his ability stands when he's not in trauma, and figure out the help he needs."

"But we can expect him to be safe?" said Mr Costello.

I nodded. "Powers don't often act without a person's authority," I said. "It's only intense _need_ that can muddy that up. He'll be calm under the effect, but he'll still feel emotions, just capped so that he doesn't get impassioned. You can interact with him as you regularly would, explain things to him, more especially tell him that he's safe. The potion works better if it isn't being fought against."

I waited, watching as they looked at each other with fear before Mrs Costello let out a short breath and said, "Bring him."

"Brody," I said and there was a flash of blue light, the boy being shifted from one place to another. He landed with a stumble and I quickly caught him, he looked up at me with wide, yet still slightly glazed over eyes.

"You were right," he said, a small smile on him. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was a little fun."

"I might take you on another ride some time," I said, smiling back. "With your aunt and uncles, permission. Maybe a broom-ride?"

"Could I?" he said, slightly excited.

"Yes," said Mrs Costello. "Though we'll have to get settled first." She looked at me. "Maybe take a look at the town?"

I nodded. Knoydart was small enough that it hadn't expanded much time conceptualising a shield that would dull the need to ask questions where the Costellos were involved, and it was far enough away that I didn't think any of the villain groups in Belfast wouldn't have influence here.

They would be safe until things were dealt with.

888

Three days without doing much that was actively fighting, and instead going to meet with courts: Warrants were in the way of being issued to make raids with information provided by Mad Hatter. The Human Revealment Charm was going to play a large part in whether we could track the targets within, which meant it had to be tested.

Sir Kay managed to fast track the process by sweet talking a judge, even getting the woman to agree to have her memories altered so she wouldn't know how exactly my ability worked, just the vague idea that it worked enough to give credibility to my saying the target wasn't moving to the door or there was no one there in the first place.

It was also round about the time that good things started to happen for the King's Men.

Being able to Apparated and Disapparated, I was by far the fastest mover the King's Men had, which meant I was the one who responded when a police call was received, asking for a representative.

"Is something wrong?" I said on appearance in Belfast. "You made it sound a little urgent."

"No," the police officer said. "I just wanted her out of my hands before things take the shit. We've got a cape in there," he said, gesturing to the room behind him. "She's heard the stories that have been making waves, about the _flock_ being the King's Men and how it could have single-handedly defeated the Sword unit given enough time. I think she wants to join."

I nodded. "Give me a sec?" I said. "Our thinker's out and I need to secure a room just in case she's a plant."

"Please hurry," she said. "Don't want my station getting wrecked. Even if you could fix it."

I nodded and then turned, checking if the cell we'd kept Swift in was still empty—the woman herself had been taken to the Basement, where she would stay until her trail. From Merlin's words, though, it was looking likely that she would be going to the Birdcage.

I quickly cycled through the spells, making sure they were layered so that it could keep in a wide spread of abilities.

Then I returned, where I was still being waited for. The police officer opened the door for me and there was sitting, a girl, fourteen if not fifteen, and just to her left was a too tall and too thin man that was whispering to her ear. The man looked in my direction and the girl followed suit.

She let out a relieved breath.

"Thank, God," she said and she let her head rest on the table in front of her before she started sobbing.

"It's okay," I said and I walked to her. The tall man was watching me, standing straight with his head touching the ceiling. He didn't have a face, his skin extraordinarily pallid. He reminded me of the people in stop-animation movies, his features exaggerated in a way that put him _other_ to human.

The thing whispered as I got closer.

"I know," the girl said, between sobs. "I just thought I wouldn't get here in time." She gestured at the man. "My power isn't really discreet, and I can't turn it off."

"Let's move," I said. "Get away from here. It's gotten to the point that someone might try to grab you."

She nodded and stood. I walked closer to her, wand at the ready as I looked at the man who was still whispering. He didn't move even as I grabbed her shoulder. I turned and was suddenly in the cell.

The man was there, he whispered, and then he disappeared.

"I'm out of danger," she said. "That's what he told me."

I nodded. "Can I test something really quickly?" I said. "I'm sorry, but we have to be paranoid."

She nodded. "Anything, just keep me safe."

I moved back and pointed my wand. "This is going to put you to sleep," I lied. The spell was going to sting her, the pain slight. The man appeared at the girl's side, in one stride reaching out towards me; I took a step back but his arms were too long and the man snatched the wand out of my hand.

My shields hadn't even activated, which meant the man wasn't a danger.

"You were going to hurt me?" the girl said, slightly aghast.

I held up my hands. "That was to test something," I said. "You power's danger sense from the looks of it. Give me the wand or I'll _really_ hurt you," I lied again.

The man whispered and then disappeared, my wand falling and then stopping before jumping into my hand.

The girl was frowning. "You lied again," she said.

"Another test," I said. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to see if you could control…him. You can't, which makes it likely that your power is new. But I can't trust that just yet. I'll have to call someone good at getting information to do that. Which means we'll have to stay here for a little while."

"We?" she said.

I nodded. "I don't have anywhere to go just yet," I said, "and I'm not about to leave you alone in a cell."

She smile a little at that.

"Now why don't I make us more comfortable," I said, "and in the meantime you can tell me about you, about your parents so that we can call them."

The girl frowned, it was only then that I truly noticed how harried she was, how unkempt her hair was, how dirty her clothes were and I connected the dots.

The idea of buying a house here didn't appeal to me since it was so long term, but with _this_ it seemed like it might be needed. Homelessness, especially the young, was something that was so rare that it was non-existent. Magic didn't allow it, with its boundless possibilities, and the Ministry was at least good on that account, ensuring that the magical youth could be raised in homes.

It was helped, largely, by being such a small community.

When some of the others returned, it was with a person that wasn't a captive: The person was on the tall side, only slightly shorter than Elsa's companion, their arms were the longest part of them, stretching three-quarters of their body lengths when they were at rest. It was a monster in the clearest definition, human only in its shape; their skin tumorous and bleached white, hands ending in claws and feet ending in sharp points that dug into the ground with each step.

"Hello," I said.

"Hello," the person said, the voice didn't give me anything on their gender. They didn't have a mouth and their voice sounded like it came from every direction.

"You're a new recruit then?" I said. "We seem to be getting popular."

The statement was meant for Sir Daniel, but he didn't look surprised. But then he was probably keeping an eye on me with his powers.

"Yes," said the person. "No? Maybe? I don't know? It's…cloudy," they said. "They said you could help me. I can't remember."

"I can try," I said. Though it wasn't my speciality, though I didn't like intruding on someone's mind. If it was to help this person, then I could do away with what was comfortable to me.

888

"All at once there's suddenly a lot to do," I said to Merlin. Her body was partially complete now, complete enough that she could leave her lab under her own power.

She was taller than me, bigger in the portly sense, but it was too much; she was round in a way that wasn't realistic, all of which made me feel a certain _wrongness_ when I looked at her. It was like looking at a doll for too long, an especially human looking doll, there was just something there that I wouldn't be able to put my finger on.

"We're building momentum," she said. "We're being loud and brass in a way that we haven't been before." She smiled at me and elbowed me a little too hard in the ribs. I grunted and she said, "Sorry, still tweaking outputs. Anyway, we're doing good, forcing this place to change."

"Don't say that too loudly or Sir Daniel might hear you," I said.

She shrugged. "Won't disclose it unless it's a danger," she said. "He's got a code, Sir Daniel, and he's very strict in keeping it. Keeping confidential information is part and parcel of it."

"Part of the safe-keeping of villain identity thing?" I asked.

"It's a bit more wide reaching that than," she said. "It applies to _everyone._ Playing with identities is risky business and it's the sort of thing that will cause a reaction." She took a breath. "It might seem like a game, all of this, but the moment you play with people's civvies…" She shook her head. "Things get _bad._ "

"And yet the Belfast Boys," I said, thinking about Elsa and about Brody's brother, Aiden. "Granted the people they take aren't heroes or villains yet, but…" I shrugged. "It's the letter of this 'rule' isn't it? Yet I don't see all of you moving any faster, I don't see the villains _helping._ "

Merlin looked at me, her eyes had stopped doing the scowl thing they did when she was really _looking._ Knowing her, it was more probable that she's improved on the eyes so they didn't have the tells.

She let out a long sigh. "Harry…" She stopped, closing her eyes and then opened them. "The world is complicated, first and foremost."

I moved to speak, to tell her that she shouldn't use that as an excuse, but she raised a hand.

"It thus forces us to make complicated choices," she said. She looked around, Jay was on the other side of the room, eating—which involved holding food to their stomach and a mouth opening—Splice was there too, chatting with Jay, and so were Bounty and Lard, the latter two were talking to each other.

Merlin did a weird thing with her hands.

"Worthy of note, I managed to do something similar to that sound dulling thing you do," she said. A brow rose, she'd replicated the Muffliato Spell? It shouldn't surprise me.

"We're restricted because of our slowly declining nature," she said. "We have limited resources. You've pretty much seen every member of the King's Men and they've all been spread out before we could get them in one place because of you.

"We couldn't, before, afford to always be in Belfast. They play cloak and dagger to the point that it looks like there aren't any crimes," she said. "The Belfast Boys don't attack, they keep to the shadows and then _act_ swiftly enough that we don't even have proof they've acted. The Happy Fun Time Gang have got the most influential people addicted to their drugs in a way that makes them hard to dislodge, the Collector is his own mess and no one's even _seen_ Gorger.

"Even with all their theoretical crimes, it was never in the books that we could just stay there and stop them. We'd have too much against us."

I looked down at my food for the longest time, letting the information gestate. I let out a sigh. "I feel like we're just protecting the villains too much," I said. "Setting the system up so that they can win. Another system that's just _there_ because people are used to it."

Looking at it, the last sentence sounded on. It seemed to me more natural that I say this was just a broken status quo, but then, as I dug into it I remembered that she had hated the system of the King's Men in regard to me. Those words, I was lashing out and I hated myself a little for it.

It was especially worse when I knew the reasoning behind all of this, that the villains were a major components of Endbringer battles. But maybe that was why I was lashing out? This world seemed so unfair to good or innocent people, forcing them into compromises than muddied everything they did. Was that it?

But then, that was the world, wasn't it? It didn't necessarily care?

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm just…"

"It's fine," said Merlin. "It was only a matter of time before that edge of naivety was lost. The world is harsh, _this_ world more than others."

I hummed at that, letting my mind loose, letting it consider how I might better things. My first impulse was to fight the Endbringers, but then it was likely that the Killing Curse might not work and I'd just die. No, my first impulse wouldn't be the right move here, which meant: _What would Hermione do?_

I looked at Merlin. "If an Endbringer were to attack today," I said. "What would happen?"

Merlin frowned, but she said, "Sirens would sound calling for evacuation," she said. "People at the edges of the city are to leave while those in other points are to go to the shelters."

"There are shelters," I said. I'd been too focused on the actual _fight,_ that I hadn't thought about helping. "Okay," I said, ideas forming. "Okay. I have the etchings a plan," I said.

The Wizengamot would take too long in their discussions, they would draw things out without thinking about the danger this place was in. But I was here and I had enough pull that I could stand to not listen to them and still not face the consequences if the public didn't see what I was doing as too horrible. A system I hated, but it helped my reckless nature in this instance.

"It'll limit the stuff that I can do on the Belfast front," I said. "But I can still help were needed. Enchantments here and there while I focus on the Endbringer threat."

Merlin smiled, though it was a sad sort of smile. "You would have been the better Merlin," she said. Before I could ask what she meant, she stood. "Let's do this," she said. "Tell me your plan and I'll help you in every way I can."

"The others?" I said.

"Sir Daniel already knows, but won't say," said Merlin. "If we want the others with us our best bet it talking to Sir Bors, see if he decided for or against it. But the person that really matters is Sir Kay…" She stopped, looking at me for the longest moment before she pulled me in a hug, whispering so low that it was almost hard to hear. But I heard enough.

 _Sir Kay has a master effect,_ she'd whispered. _Don't spent too much time around him or you'll be under his subtle thrall._

SiWell, that certainly put a dark cast to things.


	6. Interlude: Tinkers

Interlude: Tinkers

A pulse of blue outward before it turned inwards, being compressed to a point and then just as quickly expanding and disappearing. It was a little better than the spinning of the Portkey, or the tube of Apparition, but it was its own sort of uncomfortable.

 _But it's teleportation,_ Thami thought as she came into the world, appearing at home. It was far above what most tinkers could do, but then she was in an unusual position where she had _a lot_ of inspiration.

"Shit," she heard, the voice familiar and a floor down. Feet thudded against the ground, a click as a phone was pulled up and the clack of keys being hit. She moved her eyes in a pattern and a device activated, cutting off communication.

" _Shit. Shit. Shit!"_ she heard, the words blending into one word that was erratic.

Another series of eye movements and her voice was magnified.

"Calm down, you dolt! It's me!" she said.

She heard the breath in relief and then the shout. "Fuck you! You scared me to death. I thought the rules had been thrown out of the window with everything that's been happening!"

Thami smiled a little and them moved through a series of gestures: The middle finger of her left hand running through a pattern. There was a click and then her stomach perfectly parted, revealing a mess of machinery beneath and her primary body beneath. The entire thing started moving, hissing and popping as it opened, shifting sections so that they would still be intact while she detached herself from the suit.

Her first suit, one she'd managed to get by tricking how her power worked. The restriction was that she work on a body, her body, and she'd done this to the point that most of her body was additions. But now, for the first time, she'd gotten the idea to make a layered body and while working through it she'd made it so the layers could detach.

Two bodies, though the first could now be thought of as a suit.

She stepped down and absently watched as reports came in, dominating a portion of her left vision. The body was new and it was a return to basics: An amalgam of flesh and machinery, minimal offensive capabilities with maximum defensive. Her organs had been shifted around and redundancies set in place to ensure she wouldn't have a repeat of the performance she'd put up with the Orders of Magnitude.

Defeating Conundrum had been harder than it should, her tricks, as was often the case when fighting _Enigma_ , not as effective as they should have been against the lesser of the three. Things hadn't gotten better when she'd had to fight the Artful Dodgers, even with Mystery being out of the fight for most of it until the decisive moments. But the Artful Dodgers were a danger in their own way, and she'd forgotten that then, choosing to focus on taking them down quickly only so that she could focus on Enigma.

Perhaps, she'd thought, between the both of them, they'd have enough tricks that they might have finally apprehended the bastards.

She took a breath, pushing away the thoughts. Now wasn't the time for that. The room around her was her home workshop, not that it saw much use these days, but it was hers. She moved through a short sequence, moving her fingers through the air and undoing its defences before stepping out and downstairs into the living room.

"What was that, up there?" Nandi asked. She was on the couch watching the television, a news report featuring blurry images of a swarm of birds in the sky: _Belfast._

Nandi didn't look to her sister, instead keeping fixated on the news report.

"Got some new gear," she said. "Move a little?" Nandi shifted a little and Thami sat, making sure she didn't throw herself less she break the sofa. She'd done that at first, when she'd been younger and she'd still been new to her enhancements. Her father had laughed the entire thing off.

"Was testing it out," Thami finished.

"Loud," said Nandi. "Teleportation?"

Thami hummed. "Told you about Gwydion, right?"

"No," said Nandi. "You haven't seen me in a week," she said. "Thought you'd finally left us and gotten yourself an apartment."

"Want me to leave so soon?" Thami said, giving Nandi a long look. It was automatic at this point, that her eyes chose that moment to zoom in, looking at the contours of her sister's face and drinking in Nandi's expression. On the macro sense she seemed restrained, but on the micro Thami could see the minute details of Nandi's anger.

An old anger that Thami now thought was the norm.

Nandi shrugged. "Would be better," she said, her tone cold. "At least then you wouldn't have to worry Dad. D'you know he called Matthew? To search if you'd been killed?" The cold gave way to a little heat, the corners of her eyes were slightly squinted: If she'd been looking in Thami's direction it would have been, there would have been a glare.

"I'm not that reckless," Thami responded.

Nandi just hummed, her head never having strayed from watching the television. Thami sat back, letting out a silent sigh and turning to watch the news, there was a report there of the families that had been found dead and the speculation that this was something to do with the Enlightened.

Thami winked and a message was started. She moved her right eye this time and started drafting: _News about the Enlightened in Belfast broke out. Possible one of Herald's machinations,_ and she sent the message.

She didn't know if the others knew, but it was better that they get information they already had than miss something on fear of being redundant. Before it could continue Nandi grabbed the remote and the quickly moved through the channels until she found an American reality show, Thami's sigh was left out this time.

Nandi was too angry and this was her way of forcing Thami out of the room.

She acquiesced and moved to the kitchen, going through the motions of making a few sandwiches. If she wanted to, she could build systems that meant she didn't need to eat, but it was one aspect of herself that she didn't want to lose. Helped in large part because she could guess how her father would feel at the betrayal.

Thami was just finishing her sandwich when she heard the shuffle of footsteps, heavy and hurried. It was raining outside and her father hated being out in the rain. She stopped her preparations, frowning as she threw the thing as the door opened. Wasteful, but that would be another betrayal.

She moved, gliding into the air and coming into the hall that lead to the front door. Francis stopped short as he was closing his umbrella, a brilliant smile appearing on him before he rushed forward, wrapping her in a hug.

"Daughter of mine," he said, his voice with the edges of an accent. Francis had been eleven when he'd emigrated with his grandmother to England, and try as he might, he'd never quite lost his accent. "You're back!"

"Yeah, Dad," Thami returned. "It was too long."

"Yes. Yes," he said. "Have you eaten? If I'd known you were coming home I might have prepared something in advance."

Thami shook her head. "Was going to make a sandwich," she said. "Heard you coming in."

"Glorious!" said Francis. "Then I'll prepare for us a feast. You still like to eat, yes? You've lost your stomach," he said, patting his on larger than average belly.

"I'm still your daughter," Thami said with a smile. "Could you make it even bigger? I have a friend that's looking after an orphan and he's a terrible cook. He might like to join."

"You have friends?" Francis said, too loud. He quickly looked abashed. "Of course you have friends. I mean—"

"I know what you mean, Dad," Thami said. "And yes, I have friends." She frowned, though, thinking back and finding that no, she really didn't. Since joining the King's Men she'd been so busy that she'd lost touch with people. Focusing on creating the optimal body, showing her use in the King's Men, or even making money to fund her projects were being a King's Man wasn't enough.

She wasn't even really sure that she and Harry _were_ friends. They liked being around each other, but that seemed more business than anything; with Thami getting ideas off of his magic, while he got…He wasn't sure what Harry got from her except that they were close to each other in age.

"I at least have one sort of friend," she said and shrugged. "I'll have to call him though. I didn't think to invite him to anything before I came here."

Francis nodded as they both started moving towards the kitchen. Francis made sure to give Nandi and asking her if she wanted to help in preparing a feast for Thami's return. Nandi declined, pointing to a new episode of a show she wanted to watch: On obvious lie, not that Francis noted.

There was a moment of silent as Francis stepped into his terrain, moving with a grace to him as he started reaching into the pantry and pull out ingredients. Thami took the moment to watch her father with a smile, seeing how happy he was to be doing all this, and she pushed back the ball of darkness that swirled in her stomach.

 _Betrayal._

It was something she thought of a lot, though it didn't really fit. When she let herself sit down and think, she saw all the times that she was projecting, superimposing her thought process over others.

But then again maybe she wasn't, and what she thought was true.

 _Family is the foundation._ These were words she lived by, something that directed the decisions she made in large part. What she did and didn't do, not only affected her, but her family as well.

When she'd triggered and her father had spoken to her to join the King's Men, she hadn't been able to say no because she knew what that would mean. Don't you want to continue to the legacy that your mother left? No one would say this, but it would be something they would think, she was sure of it.

She'd had no other choice than to join the King's Men even knowing that they were failing, that she wouldn't be able to reach her full potential. All because her mother had been a part of them, and it would say something if she didn't join them.

Her father hadn't pushed her towards the decision, only asked if she wanted to, but he'd seem so proud when she'd said yes that it was surely the answer he'd wanted.

She had no other choice than to bear the abuse at Dame Percival's sharp tongue, being told she hadn't earned her position. How Sir Galahad was condescending, treating like her like a child and yet expecting her to fight the worst of villains if it was needed. All because it would reveal how the King's Men truly worked to her father, doing away with the godly image that he'd cast over his wife and everything associated with her.

Expected to fight the Endbringers because it might prove she didn't care enough about avenging her mother.

The ball got larger and larger, enough that a system activated and turned her expression placid so as to not let the façade slip. She didn't need for her father to ask her questions, because she would have to lie and there were already so many of those that it was hard to keep track.

 _Maybe that's why it's so easy for me to get lost in the fugue,_ she thought. _To escape it all?_

One thing she knew for sure was that it was definitely the reason she hadn't told them about Sir Kay. An aspect of it might be that they wouldn't believe her, they might think she was trying to overthrow the old guy and react. But the other was a return against the slights, she wanted them to suffer a little even if she wouldn't be able to see when the other shoe dropped, when they realised that they'd been pawns.

She might have smirked had the mesh under her skin not stopped her, and it would have been an ugly thing, a release of years' worth of pent up emotion.

But she'd told _him,_ hadn't she? Even with the threat that Sir Daniel might overhear?

"So," said Francis, pulling Thami out of her thoughts. She became aware that she'd lost so much time while lost in thought, and her father had allowed it, most likely thinking she was in another fugue. "You changed."

Thami nodded, the ball in her stomach twisting because she knew what he wanted. "Fought the Orders of Magnitude. They messed up the old body enough that I had to change all of it."

"Really?" said Francis. "Didn't hear anything about it on the news."

"It wasn't here in London," she said. "They were in Cardiff, getting some tinker tech swords there and the fight was restricted. It wouldn't have gotten out."

"Cardiff?" he said and then, "Oh. Gwydion. Matthew told me a little about him. The stuff I've been able to read is starting to say he might be our Eidolon."

Thami snorted. _Not our,_ she thought. But she didn't say this, instead she said, "He very well might be. Guy can pull a lot of powers out of his ass."

" _Language,"_ Francis said.

"Sorry, Dad," Thami returned and she was smiling, the ball of ugliness subsiding a little. "Anyway, we didn't know they were there and we were outnumbered between the Orders of Magnitude and the Artful Dodgers. Managed to get a few punches in but it wasn't enough."

"You being okay is all that matters," he said, his smile not reaching his eyes this time. Then, just as quickly, he brightened. "It looks good, your body, a little like your mother while she still lived."

"Does it?" said Thami. She hadn't really noticed. She looked at the fridge and now that it had been said, she couldn't help but notice it: Her face on the thin side with angular features, her skin was darker than her mother's would have been, but lighter than her original dark hue, even her hair was straighter.

With that observation, she couldn't help but let her mind spiral. How could she miss something like that? That she'd subconsciously created a body that was like her mother's? Had her death affected her to that level?

The thoughts were uncomfortable, bringing up things she didn't want to think about and she stamped it down, choosing to focus on something else.

"Yes," her father said, and it was though he was reading her mind and going the counter direction because he said, "You must be missing her."

Thami took a breath and moved her hand, drugs coursed through her system and her emotions dulled. She shrugged.

"Must be," she said, the inflection in her voice false. Her father didn't say anything, looking at her for a moment before getting back to the food.

He was quick about it, moving from one task to the other without pausing, seeming as though he was lost in his own tinker fugue but with food. Thami took the moment to send Harry a message, telling him that he and Elsa had been invited for dinner, knowing how Harry had reacted when he'd been handed the phone, it would no doubt be Elsa who answered.

"Everything's about done," said Francis. "Shouldn't you be calling your friends?"

"Want to see something cool?" she said to her father. Francis gave a large smile as he nodded, Nandi, who'd come to the dining room, rolled her eyes. "Follow me, then."

She was a little surprised that Nandi followed too.

A drawing room, she moved the furniture and then took a snapshot of it and sent it to Harry.

"What are we looking at?" said Nandi.

"Just watch the centre of the room," said Thandi. As she finished the words there was a small _pop_ and three people appeared: One of them Harry he was dressed a little on the formal side, the other a stumbling Elsa who was wearing new clothes, and the last the Crooked Man whose long arms were reaching forward to catch Elsa.

"Why was that worse?" Elsa was muttering. "I don't remember it being like that."

"Well, you were in shock the last time," Harry said, tapping the girl on the back. He looked towards the others and smiled a dopey sort of smile, pushing his glasses further into his face. He stepped forward and extended a hand towards Francis. "Hello, I'm Harry Potter, it's an honour to meet you."

Francis smiled. "You too," he said. "You too. Please. Come in. By which I mean, make yourselves at home because you're already in."

"I apologise for that," said Harry, a hand rubbing the back of his head. "Would have Apparated a little ways away, but Merlin's picture was inside and I took that as implicit permission to—"

"No, it's fine. It's fine," said Francis. "And you are, little lady?"

The girl had been rooted on the spot after she'd been caught by the Crooked Man.

"Elsa Murphy," she said, not moving but giving a small wave. He pointed at her protector. "And Harry calls him the Crooked Man. He's sort of my bodyguard."

"Odd that he hasn't turned off, though," said Thami.

"He's been on for most of the day," said Harry and he held her gaze. It wasn't communicated but she could stretch out the thought process, _ever since I told you about Sir Kay._ "I'll have to put up spells to ensure he's not seen."

"Spells?" said Nandi. "You're one of them? Like Pestilence?"

"Pestilence?" said Harry.

"Why don't we talk about this at the table," Francis quickly said. "The food will be getting cold." He didn't explain any further, which made Elsa frown in confusion a little but she didn't say anything.

When they were in the dining room Harry moved, pulling out the thin knobby stick he called his wand and started moving it in a pattern. Her eyes took it in and then called up past information on the series of movements: The Imperturbable Barrier. It could block out sight and sound, but there was something there, slight variations that fell into the pattern of the Go-Away Field.

After which they settled down to eat, or where Elsa was concerned, shovelling as much of the food as she could fit into her mouth. Thami's family didn't mention anything, and Harry was wearing another of his dopey smiles though his eyes looked far away.

Unsurprisingly, there was little in the way of conversation, with Francis' food dominating everyone's attention.

"Can you tell me a little about yourself, Harry?" Francis said as plates were starting to clear.

"Um…" Harry looked at her before he said, "I'm from Surrey. I was born and raised in Ashford."

"Can see why you'd think to move here," said Francis. "Not many villains in those parts, right?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "And it helps that I can Apparate."

"Apparate?" said Nandi. "I don't think that's a word."

Elsa shrugged and said, "The entire deal behind words is that they give meaning, right? That word means something to you, right, Harry?"

"Right," said Harry and he was smiling. "Though Merlin has trouble with it too. Raged one time when I couldn't explain how I Apparate, kept shouting 'It's teleport. _Teleport.'_ While muttering it doesn't make sense."

"You're making it into something far larger than it is," Thami said, slightly abashed. Sometimes her ability struggled when it tried to derive ideas for future tech from Harry's abilities, and teleporting had been one of them, especially the turn-on-the-spot teleporting.

"I guess it's a family thing," said Francis. "My two girls similar even with their differences."

Thami noticed Nandi frowning and she wasn't able to focus on this because too many things happened at once: The world tilted and she was gifted with the most wondrous sight that was quickly pushed to the back of her mind; drugs kicked into her system to calm her and her exterior suit broke a hole in the roof to get to her; a shield erupted around Elsa, buzzing as cracks started forming spidery lines along its surface; and there was whoosh that swept over her as Harry activated his Bio-Sense.

When she came to, she was in her exterior suit, with the stranger controls activated, and Francis was on the floor moving to pick Nandi up and protect her from the unknown threat.

"There's no one here," said Harry, his voice without expression and his eyes cold as they scanned the room. "What just happened?"

"I don't know," said Elsa. "The Crooked Man says it's still there. Whatever it is."

"Nandi are you okay?" Francis was muttering. "Talk to me."

"I'm fine," said Nandi. "I'm fine. I think I just triggered."

"Harry, I think I need to tell you something," Elsa said and she looked a little scared, it was hard not to because the Crooked Man was whispering loudly, audible above the buzz of the shield that was still around Elsa.

Before she could speak however, the shield snapped with a crack and disappeared. The girl faltered and Harry moved quickly to catch as the Crooked Man disappeared and then reappeared, whispering softer than he had been a moment before.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," said the girl. "What just happened?"

Harry was frowning as he said, "I'm not sure. But I don't think it's good whatever it is."

888

 _Gregory Langstaff. He's now known as perhaps the first Muggle Born wizard in written history, though this is a hard claim to prove. People were different back then, the rules were different and such there were a lot of abuses of magic._

 _That, however, isn't the point._

 _Gregory lived in a small Muggle village that didn't have the gaze of Wizardkind. He was skipped over, not told of the great potential he had in him, and yet he grew to acclaim._

 _He was beloved in his village, enough so that he was elected to look over it, to drive policy and to shield it in times of need. It wasn't long after, that in the dark times, that this was needed. A raiding party coming to pillage but was stopped by Gregory._

 _The story goes: The man bellowed, a sword held in hand and prepared to fight the invaders, "Begone foul knaves! Begone from this place and leave us in peace!"_

 _And after a burst of light, this had been true. The invaders had disappeared into nothing, later found out that he'd sent a burst of unrestrained magic that had Disapparated all the invaders._

 _What do we learn from this? That magic holds certain elements sacred. The people of the village held Gregory in high esteem, giving him an abstract sort of power that's been lost as we've reached a more procedural form of magic…._

Andrew stopped, staring at the cursive words for the longest time before he let out an exasperated grunt. He tore the parchment apart with a flick of the wand and then took his quill again, dabbing it in ink.

 _Evolution of Magic: Abstract to Concrete,_ he wrote in the middle of the parchment, the distance measured. It wasn't needed, if he wanted to he could just flick his wand and dictate to the quill what he wanted written, but that would…hypocritical, would it not?

 _Everything_ meant something where magic was concerned. What a person did, how they act, the day and the weather in some circumstances. Most of it was small, little bits of added extras that most of the time meant nothing, but sometimes they could culminate in very large things.

And so he wrote:

 _There was one a boy who'd had the worst befall him, his parents killed by the worst threat in recent history and yet, somehow, he'd survived it._

 _But how could this be true of one who hadn't yet learned to fully use their powers? How could they stop something that, for what most knew, was an unstoppable piece of magic?_

 _This paper will seek to investigate the nature of magic and its evolution through history. How magic came largely from the abstract and developed into something that could have concrete laws that were inviolable._

 _For that we must start from the beginning. The abstract nature of magic._

Andrew stopped, scratching his head and looking over what he'd written. Was it pandering, he wondered, that he was starting off with Harry Potter? Making sure that he at least reached the target's interest, which he hoped to keep through the length of the paper.

But there was also the fact that Harry Potter was directly relevant to the topic at hand. There were a lot of things that still didn't make sense about his relationship with the You-Know-Who and he might shed a little light by making him a character study.

"But that isn't really the reason you're doing this, is it?" he muttered to himself, sitting back and staring at the parchment, his words glinting a little under the light.

This wasn't needed, but he felt as though it was needed because of who he was around. It had been so easy, while in Hogwarts, to watch her from afar, hear of how she even outdid older students, but working in such close proximity to her brilliance was something else entirely.

When he allowed himself to think about it, Andrew had to admit that in large part it was jealousy, and this was a part in that. If he wrote this well enough, he might catch the eyes of the Unspeakables and be tapped to join. Of course he wouldn't do it, they had restrictions on what a person could do with their magical discoveries, but he wanted to be a part of the number that could say they'd been tapped by the Department of Mysteries.

 _Like Hermione,_ he thought.

"This is stupid," he said and he scrunched the paper up and tossed it into a bin. There was more than enough to do _here,_ actually working at something that might earn him an Order of Merlin, instead of focusing on a lateral move.

He pulled out his wand and moved through his lab, going to a clattered desk filled with rectangular cubes made of different types of wood. The same type of wood that went into creating wands, which meant they had a tie to magic. Each spell caused _some_ strain on the object it was cast on, which was why objects made to last for a long time were made from something with a tie with magic.

Broomsticks made from special brands of wood which had trained Herbologists working to take care of the trees; invisibility cloaks made from the hide of animals that had some penchant towards hiding in the first place; and why they'd chosen Goblin grade metal as the object for the Inter-World Portkey spell.

A facet he was using for his Detectors, but he was leaning into the abstract. Different types of wood had different properties as per wandlore and he was using that to create a _lasting_ detector. The most promising was the Elder wood, able to take in the passive magic let out by curses but never to the point where it exploded—though that was still a problem he was working on.

If he succeeded, though, he knew that he would have a market at the ready. Curse Breakers would have an easier job of undoing old spells, the Auror Corps might have an easier job of undoing protective strongholds, and trying to find cursed items would be infinitely easier.

But first it would have to work.

Andrew moved through his lab to another part of the room, going to a point where a set of protective enchantments had been put in place and let rest for a few days. Not enough time for the spells to warp because of their age or the temperamental nature of magic, but this was just the initial phases of testing.

He put forward the Detector and it started clicking, the bottom of the thing starting to spit out a piece of paper with words written on it: The spells he'd layered, but none of them were malignant.

He moved on to the next set of enchantments and waited with bated breath as the Detector started taking in the curses. It didn't break, but the curses were on the low end. He moved onto the next and watched as it worked again.

He smiled before he frowned, there was an extra spell there, standing on its own with question marks for the name but the function written: _Spell hides the user by making the subjects overlook them. Uses variants of the Muggle Repelling Charm and Legilimency._

At once Andrew focused on his barriers until he felt the intrusion. He closed off the area and the person appeared as though from thin air. A tall person, dressed in black combat suit, their face covered by a dark mask. They had a wand held in hand.

 _Protection,_ he thought. _Protego, the easiest to make but lets certain curses through. Protego Horribilis would work better. It's less vague than the Protego Charm which means that it'll be stronger against its function. Everything means something but when something means too many things it becomes weaker._

The man moved his wand and Andrew was stunned, his thoughts moving forward and trying to decipher which spell might be best to use without doing anything. The man finished the motion, putting his wand to his throat.

"The Minister wishes to meet," the man said in a woman's voice.

His thoughts stopped, started and then everything connected. "You're a Spook," he said, his voice dry and shaking. "But…" They weren't supposed to be really _real._

The rumours went that Kingsley had put them in place after being officially voted in, people that were only loyal to him and sought to make sure that no one like the Dark Lord could ever gain the traction he'd gotten before.

But here one was, except…He shook his head.

"This could be a trap," he said, his voice still shaking. "Someone recently tried to break in. This could be an attempt to steal me and take the stuff that's in my head. Just so you know, I'm protected."

"I know," said the woman. "This isn't a trap." The woman's other hand reached into her side and pulled out a mirror. She pressed and a moment later a Patronus appeared: A lynx.

"I, Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, request a meeting," said the lynx before it disappeared.

"If you'd come with me," said the woman and she held her hand forward.

Amongst the few things that couldn't be done with magic was replicating another person's Patronus. Perhaps it could be done with other means, but that much magic and the Detector would have sensed that.

He stepped forward and took the woman's hand. A hook connected to his navel, which should have been impossible, and he was wrenched from his lab. He appeared in a smaller room round room, made of a dark stone with more Spooks standing guard, their wands out.

There were only seven other unmasked people that he could see: Hermione Granger was talking with Minister Shacklebolt and Ron Weasley; Blaise Zabini and Terry Boot were talking amongst themselves, and Seamus Finnigan was talking with Susan Bones.

Hermione looked in Andrew's direction when she saw him and she smiled a little, waving him forward. The Minister looked in his direction and his expression grew sterner as Andrew started shuffling forward.

"Good," the Minister said, "We're all here. We can begin all of this before we're missed."

"We're going in to save Potter, aren't we?" said Blaise Zabini. He sighed a little. "I knew only trouble would follow when I heard he was making the trip."

"He was the only one brave enough to do it," said Susan.

Hermione snorted. "I can think of a whole lot of things that aren't brave," she muttered, though Andrew could still hear. "For that matter I think brave would be the last of them."

"Moving on," said the Minister. "Yes, we're going to the Earth. Not to rescue Potter, but to smooth things over, establish a relationship that won't mean hard feelings down the line."

"You think they might be a threat?" said Seamus.

The Minister shrugged. "It's not about that they might be a threat," he said. "It's that if they were a threat, would we want to fight them? We don't know how they spread population wise, but they've done away with the masquerade which means they aren't scared of the number advantage between themselves and muggles. We should be scared of that."

"I think we're making too many inferences," said Hermione. "From what Harry's said, their abilities have an capability of spontaneity. Yes it can be passed down, but most people just _get_ abilities."

"Another reason why we'll be going there, no doubt," said Ron. "I love Harry, but his head is in a different place. He won't be much use getting the right kind of information."

The Minister nodded. "All of you have specialised knowledge in your own rights," he said, "and for most, Potter might not think about it too hard if you suddenly appeared. While the others things can be explained. But this is a mission, a secret mission since things are still being discussed with the Wizengamot."

"I'll assume you already have ways to hide our disappearances?" said Blaise. "People might not find it odd if I disappeared. But if Granger and Weasley disappear, everyone will know where they are."

Kingsley nodded. "We'll be using one of our resources from the Department of Mysteries. You'll also be taking two members of the Secret Services. They'll pose as guards hired by Mr Zabini."

"In character," said Blaise.

"Then go quickly. Take what you can over the next few hours. An agent will keep you guard to make sure you don't say anything."

For the first time Andrew made a sound, everything had moved too fast and he hadn't had time to have a concrete thought. One thing rose above the rest though, even beyond that what they were doing was likely unethical if not illegal.

They all looked in his direction.

"Why am I here?" he asked.

"Because even though they might be a potential threat," said Hermione. "This world doesn't deserve what Harry's describe the Endbringers doing. You're our best bet in that. Between your abstract knowledge of magic and your charms expertise, you're the most variable element we have. We'll need that since we don't exactly know what we're getting into."

Andrew smiled. The words were more gratifying since they were coming from Hermione Granger.


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

 _Legillimens._

At once I was pulled in and engulfed. The reality in front of me was clustered, feeling with frayed images with the details slowly changing between one second and the other; they were packed with emotion and small bits of sensory impulses that I could feel when an image got too close. It was too much and I couldn't control it, especially as the images were disturbed, surging forward and towards me; tendrils spreading out and touching me, imparting a slightly dulled feeling of the memories.

I pulled back, becoming aware for the first time that a scream was just dying in the room around me.

Jay didn't have an expression, the face was all wrong for that, but the breathing showed that my spell hadn't been on the gentle side.

"Are you okay?" I asked. I was breathing hard much like Jay, feeling the traces of the emotion I still had running through my mind.

"Yes." The voice was everywhere and it sounded tired, filled with traces of pain. "Yes. But it was…more painful than I thought it would be."

"Sorry," I said. "This is sort of the first time I've tried this and I didn't have the forethought to bring the limited amount of Legilimency books from home."

"It's okay," said Jay. "We can go again. So long as I remember. I hate the _hole_ where my life should be _."_

I swallowed with discomfort, but shook my head.

"This isn't going to work," I said. I noticed the reaction, how their body drew inward and quickly said, "Not like _this._ I'll have to contact the people of my world, people far better than me at this and have them help you. But if that's going to take too long I'll be working towards bettering myself."

"How?" Jay asked.

"Makhai," I said. The idea already in mind. "His mind works differently, it's most probably ordered to an insane degree with how it should work. It should help me do the same thing to your mind. Help me wade past the newer memories to the old."

Jay gave me a nod. "Thank you again." Jay still sounded tired while saying this, and that fatigue was clear as she stood, coming to tower in front of me. "I know you've been on the busy side the last few days."

I shrugged. "All I could do to help," I said.

Jay said a word and then there was a flash of blue light as she disappeared, going back to base. I wasn't. Indeed I hadn't gone to base over the last few days and I hadn't been able to rationalise sending Elsa there, or having any of the King's Men near Brody. There was an image in my mind of Sir Kay spending time with the Costellos, letting his ability fester and then letting the jump to the conclusion that it would be the right thing to do to have Brody as a member of the King's Men.

There was international precedence there too: It was bad in most parts of African, with young warlords and temper tantrums, but there was the good in parts like American and the flamboyant paras in India. It wouldn't something that would cause too much of a stir.

I needed to do something about this, but it was hard figuring out _what._

Master abilities were a pain to deal with because they connected to a whole lot of other things. Merlin hadn't yet had time to tell me the specifics of how Sir Kay's ability worked, but my mind was working in a way to approximate it with the strongest master ability that I knew: Herald of the Enlightened.

The leader of the Enlightened was tied at first spot with Lord Walstrom on the strongest master classed paras. Both of them with range and with wide reaching effect to their abilities, but Herald was by far the scariest in how often he used his ability. Herald had a layered master ability, at a certain distance from him you were drawn near, and a much shorter distance you automatically worked your actions so that they pleased him, and close enough, he could tell you to do anything and you would do it without question.

The Imperius Curse incarnate.

Was Sir Kay the same, except with a longer time spent before the ability worked and a shorter amount of time with the ability working?

Too many unknowns and I couldn't even get the information because I was being watched.

Another unknown was Sir Daniel's ability, but I couldn't help but look up at the ever-present eye on me.

One problem after another, after another, and after another.

Sir Kay and his ability; Jay and her memories; the Endbringer that was going to attack; whatever powerful para had blocked off the memories of Elsa, Merlin and Nandi; Brody and gaining control of over his abilities; and in the short term, the Enlightened and what they were going to do in Belfast.

It was all starting to get too much.

I took a breath, going through a small mental exercise to calm myself down. Unlike the past, everything that had happened was because of _me._ Or at least, everything that was happening and everything that I had to deal with was because I wanted that responsibility. I could overcome it all if I calmly thought through it, worked it out and then acted.

First thing first: The Endbringers.

I moved through the space we'd decided to call our living room to a conjured door. Most of the apartment was things I'd conjured because of how much I'd _bent_ space. I knocked and said, "I'm about to leave, okay? Going over to the Minister's office. Hopefully I won't be gone too long."

I waited, then, "Yeah, sure!" said Elsa. "Crooked Man says everything will be okay. But there's still that danger in the background!"

The danger that had appeared since Merlin had told me about Sir Kay's ability.

The Crooked Man expected danger and I trusted him and Elsa enough that I trusted that there was danger down the line. I had to be prepared, but I had to do it in a way that seemed natural because of the ever watching eyes.

The ever watching eyes that were going to watch me as I showered. But that was easy to push to the side as I went through the motions. I was quick about it, then putting on a formal suit, enchanting it with the Muggle Repelling Charm before I turned and disappeared.

888

"Mr Potter," said the man. Sid Graham. He was dressed much like me, in a formal suit, and it was strange of a para, especially since I'd started getting used to the idea that they often wore costumes.

I shook his offered had, giving him a smile. "Thank you again for seeing me in such short notice," I said. His grip was firm, but I didn't get the sense that it had to do with enhanced strength.

"When a person offers possible help for the scourge that is the Endbringers," he said. "It's not something you just disregard. Please. Sit."

I did and he did in front of me, getting comfortable in his overly large chair. As I looked at him, I couldn't help but see a knowing glint shining through his eyes. But he was a thinker, and that knowing look most probably meant something. I chose to push that aside.

"So, you had something for me?" he said, leaning back.

"I had something for the Prime Minister," I said. "Something to push whatever _talks_ they're going through faster. There's going to be an Endbringer attack in a matter of weeks and I want communication to be opened between your people and mine."

"You're hiding something," said Sid, that look in his eyes. As though he knew that this was a statement of fact.

"I'm hiding a lot of things," I said.

He pursed his lips, his fingers steepled. "True," he said. "But you're hiding something directly relevant _here._ There's something you feel might muddy things if you said it. I can sense that your intentions are good, but I still need to know, for completeness' sake."

I took a breath and then slowly let it out. "Let it be known that I don't enjoy thinkers a whole lot," I told him. He smiled, a practiced, disarming smile. As quickly as that smile had spread it disappeared, leaving behind only a placid expression.

"You're handling me, aren't you? Thinker handling me?" I said.

"I'm a politician," he said, his tone suggested that this would have been the point where he'd smirked, but he didn't. "The entirety of my job is handling people. Sure, I push policy into being, but as much as I might want something, I'm largely working to handle people or groups of people."

"You could have just said yes," I muttered. I took another breath, going through the exercises to calm myself down. Dull my emotions to a point. It wasn't to the point where I could build sustainable mental barriers, but it worked so I didn't get overwhelmed by any particular emotion.

Sid frowned but that quickly disappeared.

"Okay," I said and I nodded. "Okay. The people of my world are much like yours. The bureaucracy in my world is much like yours except that it might be _longer._ The people that are making decisions aren't talking about the right things, instead they're arguing over words."

"I'm not sure I understand the last," said Sid. "But I'm getting the sense of outrage from you. I'm choosing to ignore that, instead focusing at the confidence you felt as you said to open talks between our two worlds. How would that have been possible if your government was still having talks?"

"Because of who I am," I said. "What I represent for my community. Because of all the people I call friends and how much they love me." I took a breath, feeling a pang of _something._ "In the next few days, people from my world will appear whether or not talks have finished. To make sure that I'm safe and to save your people."

"You're confident about this," he said.

"It helps being from such a small community," I said. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a sparrow, it looked like a real bird though it didn't move. I put it on Sid's desk and the sparrow ruffled its feathers, coming to life.

"This is one of _them,"_ he said. "The things in Belfast."

"Similar but different purpose," I said. "Those were rushed. This one took me a day to make. The bird's got enchantments on it, layered haphazardly which might hurt in the long run, but for a demonstration it works."

Sid held out a hand and the sparrow jumped on. "What does it do?" he asked me.

"It multiplies," I said. "I've hitched it up so that it can split into five hundred other birds; then, it seeks out the unpowered, sitting on their shoulders; and then it teleports them away in times of danger."

Sid jerked up, looking away from the bird that nuzzling itself against his hand, and looked at me.

"That's impossible," he said. "That degree of teleportation…"

"Is something I'm _bad_ at doing," I said. "I've got that limited to London, so that it moves people to Surrey, the outer edges of it because I was working on such a large array on something that small. Then there's the fact that my spells on the concept of 'danger' might be screwy. Not mentioning the time this all took. If a magical engineer were to do this, it would take them a few minutes and it would be _better_ that what I've created now."

" _God,"_ said Sid. He pushed his hand away and the bird jumped off. He steepled his hands again, leaning his chin on them. "Why do I get the feeling that this is only the beginning?"

"Because it is," I said. "A test with Sir Bors showed that my most powerful shielding spell can take close to twenty hits from something moving at Mach Three. I bring these up because they can be layered around something…"

"The shelters," he said.

I nodded. "I can expand space which means increasing the capacity of people each shelter can hold. I can put up other spells that might fortify any of these shelters and I remind you that in all of this, if it was _me_ that was doing the spells. They would be average at best, above average in some cases—"

"But if it were people that specifically studied those areas it would be better?" said Sid.

Again I nodded. I was starting to feel good about this, because I very well might convince him without having to go behind his back to show him what I could do.

And then, that was quickly gone as Sid frown. "I'm thinking relations," he said. "If we did this, just accepted the help of your friends, then it might mean things are harder to get working when we have to deal with people you don't have an interest in…But you don't think that that's going to be a problem?"

I wanted to say, _I have more pull than you think._ But I stopped myself, the words would be revealing the weaknesses of my world and I didn't know the repercussions that that would have. Might it mean that we were on a weaker footing? That whatever the Ministry tried it would be harder to achieve because of things I'd done?

I'd thought through all of this, tried to do as Hermione might, but it still hadn't been enough. I hadn't given myself a full day thinking of a plan before I'd gotten in contact with a representative of the Prime Minister and set a meeting. I hadn't given myself time to think about the rhythm of this conversation, the thinker that I might have to talk to and how to make sure my world came out looking rosy.

But then I'd been focused on something else. Too focused on saving people I hadn't allowed myself to see _beyond_ my goal.

 _Sirius all over again,_ the stray thought came and it _hurt._

Sid recoiled, looking as though he was in pain before his expression eased. "Do you need something to drink, Mr Potter?" he said. "I sense that you're in great distress."

"Yes," I said. "Some water, please."

Sid shook his head. "I can sense what you _mean,_ " he said. He stood, moving to a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of reddish liquid. He poured two glasses. "Usually don't break this out, but…" He let out a breath. "It's been a while since I felt something that strongly."

"Thank you," I said, accepting the glass of whisky and drinking it all in one gulp. I let out a long breath, doing my best to ease the distress I felt when I thought about Sirius and the role I'd played in things.

I stopped, looking up. "Can you control my emotions?" I said, finding anger.

"No," said Sid. "Even if I did, I would have no reason to. You want to help, Mr Potter. This is fact, and without a doubt I know this. I want you to help because it would mean _relief._ I wouldn't want to mess that up by trying to master you when I didn't know for sure if it might work on your brand of powers."

 _Then this is all me,_ I thought. _Why is everything so close to the surface? Why am I feeling things_ now?

"Could you give me a second?" I said. "I need to grab something quickly?" Sid nodded and I turned on the spot, appearing in the apartment again. I rifled through my things and grabbed a Calming Drought, drank it and then waited until it kicked in. When my emotions were sufficiently dulled, I returned to Sid.

"Sorry," I said, giving him a smile. "It's been a hectic few days and I think they're starting to get to me."

"I understand," said Sid. He was frowned all the more now, looking at me. He pouted. "Mr Potter, I can no longer continue this meeting because you seem to have countered the effectiveness of my ability. I think it might be better if we had another meeting with different grades of thinkers whose powers didn't work in the same wavelength as mine."

The wavelength being emotion, I now realised. I wasn't sure he hadn't been controlling me, then again he'd been right in saying that he gained little while standing to lose a lot. But a lot of what he'd said started to make sense, how he'd reacted when I'd thought about Sirius.

"That's fine," I said. There was a little disconnect, the drive not as large as I remembered it in the past. But I still wanted to help people, that much hadn't changed, and if these people believing me without a doubt was what it took, then I could give that to them.

I met with three other thinkers, one of them who could tell whether a statement was true or false—though his ability had trouble with some statements that were connected to my world; a woman who could tell whether and action could have good or bad consequences in the future; and a man could tell a truth from a lie.

From the conversations, I had it mind that the lie detector, Christian Angelo, had another facet to his ability though he was hiding it.

"So there won't be any blowback from this?" said Sid. "Because that should be our main focus. Wars have been started on less?"

"It's fuzzy," said Sasha. "When I look at good-bad in his world I get static. But looking here, things are generally good."

"Short term or long?" said Bethany. "Because you sometimes get lost in the short and don't look far ahead. There could be a factor that we're missing. Like sending Walstrom off to Australia."

"Not what's needed right now," said Sid. "Can we focus on _this?_ Past the games?"

"Games aside it's a very good questions," said Christian.

"I know it is," said Sid. "But it's the intention behind the matter and hers…Not important. Sasha?"

"I looked mainly short," said Sasha. "Scaled it so it looked after and Endbringer attack. It's generally good."

Bethany made to speak but I interrupted her. "What's _good?_ If I might ask? Doesn't it seem too vague a concept to hedge our bets on?"

"Vague is the only thing we have," said Sid. "And good is something that Sasha sets. After this action is the world good or bad, that sort of thing."

"With the average thinker blind spots," said Bethany.

"Second strike," said Sid. "One more and you're out."

" _Fine,"_ said Bethany with a sigh. "Getting back on point. You say this won't have a backlash. Why, if I might ask?"

"You might," I said. "But I don't think I'll answer that truthfully if I was forced to. This conversation will have ripples that reach my world. I'm bad at this, bad at the politics of it all, watching my words. I operate differently—"

"Clear from all of this," said Christian. Sid directed a scowl in his direction and the man only shrugged.

"So," I continued. "It's better that I act on the side of caution and say nothing than say the wrong thing."

"That makes things harder," said Bethany. "But, for what it's worth, what you've said is true. I get the sense that you saying that there won't be backlash is true, but there's a cadence to the answer that I'm not used to. I think my power might be using available evidence to give me an answer."

"Or it might be looking to the future," said Sasha.

Bethany shook her head. "It's not. Looking to the future _sucks._ I can feel my metaphorical battery and it isn't drained as much as it would if it were looking _forward."_

"Could you look forward?" said Sid.

"For this?" said Bethany. Sid nodded. She let out a tired sigh and then said. "Reading it. I think I have _three_ looks before I'm out."

"Gotta make this count, then," said Christian. "Regular rules?"

Sid nodded. "Regular rules." I wanted the three of them as they were quiet, considering, having not a clear idea what was going on. I was still a little surprised that I'd been allowed to sit in on this, especially since it more looked like the three of them were bouncing ideas off of each other than asking me anything.

Sid spoke first. "By accepting these people from Mr Potter's world. We'll be in a position where we can no longer talk to Mr Potter," he said.

"False," said Bethany and she flinched as though she was being hit.

"Vague," said Christian. "But it's a little hard to move forward. From what we know about Mr Potter, what little we do, he's willing to undercut procedure in pursuit of his goal." There was distaste as he said this. "The question becomes, are we still communicating with him because he's doing it through illegal means?"

"Statement please," said Bethany.

Christian was quiet for a moment before he said, "Mr Potter will illegally communicate with us because of our acceptance of these people from his world."

"Static," said Bethany. "And fortunately it didn't count. It's too close to his world, you made it too close. It's something in your intent that means you're talking about the law as it relates to Mr Potter's world."

"Damn it," Christian muttered under his breath.

"My turn," said Sasha and she didn't even hesitate. "After the next Endbringer battle, it will be said that this would have been the lowest death stats of any Endbringer fight."

"True," said Bethany.

"Again," said Christian. "You're focusing on the short term. You might as well have asked if there was going to be _war_ because of this."

"My statement gives us the most amount of useful information," said Sasha. "We can take this to Parliament and it'll be listened to. We don't know where the next attack will be and with things in Belfast the Enlightened will likely be ratcheting things up."

"Is that a prediction?" I asked.

Sid quickly shook his head. "There's a balance, Mr Potter," he said. "And part of that balance is that we don't get too involved in the _para_ scene. We can help establish policy, fight against the Endbringers and the like, but the moment we step out of line we become fair game. We'll let you lot deal with things in Belfast. We'll focus on this."

"And if you _do_ become far game, would that be so bad?" I asked.

"Short term, good," said Sasha. "Long term, bad. I've checked. It's better we abide this rules and do as we're doing."

"I still don't understand," I said.

"Think of it like this," said Sid. "Right now, we're not part of the 'game.' That means we can act on much bigger events, looking out so that people don't mess with the bureaucratic process or that people on the scale of power like Herald or Lord Walstrom don't take over because of how easily their abilities would allow that. If we started chasing the villains, then we'd be part of the game, and people would start seeing us as obstacles to be overcome."

"And the moment we're down, even for a second, it could mean that someone makes a play," said Christian. "Getting close to the Queen or to the Prime Minister or any other official." He shook his head. "We don't want that."

I nodded slowly. Maybe it was thinking a little too highly of myself to think that in a matter of weeks that I'd been on this world, I'd know how they _should_ act. There were rules, I reminded myself, rules that had formed because of _reasons._ I didn't know all those reasons which meant I didn't know as much as I thought I knew.

"We've still got one statement remaining," said Christian, continuing the main reason we were hear. "Make it good?"

"Pressure," said Sid. He took a breath a frowned, deep in thought. "If we announced tomorrow that Mr Potter's from another world there would be insurmountable backlash from the rest of the international community."

"False," said Bethany.

"UK, America, Russia and CUI. Good, good, bad, bad," said Sasha as Christian said, "I think insurmountable might have been too vague."

"Less you and more you, Sasha. Can you give us breakdowns?" Sid asked. "Of the entire map. If this is true, then…Mr Potter can be his regular self." Christian shot a look at Sid. The man shrugged. "If it comes down to it."

Sid gave me a look as he said that.

"Long term that would be _bad,"_ said Sasha, before I could even push my mind in the direction. "Short term it might be bad."

"I can see Deportation Orders coming from this," said Christian. "Killing you might be more expedient, since it would be automatically class you as a villain with potentially Eidolon tiered powers…huh," he said. _"Fuck,"_ he said. "But, that might cause a war."

"It would," said Sasha. "If we killed Mr Potter. Short term bad. Long term bad"

"I would like it very much if you didn't talk about killing me so blithely," I muttered.

"Thinker gathering," said Christian. "Nothing is off topic."

"Except things that _are,"_ said Sasha. "I think we've gotten as far as we can today. Bethany's going to need a few days to recover before she can use here ability. A meeting again, then?"

"Wait," said Sid. "Would your friends have arrived by then?"

I nodded and he let out a sigh. "We'll have to rush things along, whichever decision we're coming to. And since I think I won," he looked at the others and then nodded with satisfaction, "I'll be the one to go talk to him. Mr Potter," he said to me. "It was a pleasure to finally meet you."

I shook his hand. Sasha gave me a smile and said, "Don't _out_ yourself, Mr Potter. That direction only heralds _badness._ " With that she moved to Bethany's side, gently moved her, the pair leaving the room.

Christian just gave me a nod and then left. I turned on the spot, going back home, and feeling less confident than I'd initially felt.

888

"Let's try red," I said.

Brody nodded and then his faced scrunched in and adorable look of concentration. The effect appeared, colours just over the ground and around him, the points where they overlapped having different colours.

It was beautiful, though not what we wanted.

He was still under the effects of potions, which meant he was more in control. So this shouldn't have been the hard part. The hard part was what came next, when he still had to deal with his parents dying and the idea of them being tortured, that his brother was still missing and possibly _gone,_ and that his life would most probably not be the same again.

Then would be when it was hardest for him to control his powers.

"I'm trying but it's not working," he said, his voice slightly anxious. I gave him a small smile and I saw relief in his features.

"It's okay," I said. "We'll keep practising and you'll get it."

"I think I might have an idea," said a voice from the sky. I looked up and Dame Percival was there wearing her blue armour. She lowered and then landed. "Mr Costello, have you been taught about primary colours?"

Brody smiled brightly. "Yeah. I'm good at colours. Mom—" The smile disappeared. "Mom taught them to me. She was an artist."

"Then," said Dame Percival. "I want you to imagine your powers as paint. You're like your mother, an artist and the _world_ is your canvass."

"So red is just red paint?" said Brody. Dame Percival nodded. "Okay," he said. He took a breath and the tried again, but this time it worked. The lights were all red, floating just over the ground and slowly expanding outwards.

I gave Dame Percival a questioning look.

"Powers are intrinsically tied to the person," she said. "They're shaped by their history. I read up on him, made shots in the dark and it worked."

"Didn't know that," I said.

"There are a lot of things about our world you don't know," she said. I didn't ask, but I couldn't help but think that she might be referring to Sir Kay. Maybe I was reaching but I felt particularly paranoid.

The red colour stretched out further around Brody and it looking a little like fire. As it came closer to us, I felt small amounts of heat rushing at us, the more that the red got closer to us, the more heat and at a certain point my shield activated.

"You can stop, now, Brody," I said. "Try another colour?"

Brody nodded and pulled back the red, bringing in blue and then yellow. Just as quickly he got in other colours, secondary and tertiary colours. It was at the tertiary colours that things got bad: Parts of the air getting turned into different metelss, electricity forking out and attacking the nearest object, and lances of fire being shot out.

"Each colour means a different ability," said Dame Percival. "The variations of colour perhaps mean dual effects? The Mad Hatter could expedite matters if he looked forward."

"But it would limit him for the path moving forward," I said, too quickly. Dame Percival looked in my direction. "Mad Hatter's needed with things in Belfast. If he did this he might get a thinker headache or something."

Dame Percival hummed. "Mad Hatter won't be that involved in things on the Belfast front," she said. "His ability is too close range and it would be horrible if Herald got his hands on him. I think we can spare him for this."

 _So that you can know what he does when inevitably you have him start fighting?_ I wanted to say. But I stopped myself. It wouldn't get us anywhere.

I had to choose my battles.

"Okay, then," I said. "I'll set up Portkeys so you can get the Mad Hatter here. I have other things to do."

My pocket buzzed before Dame Percival could say anything in return. I pulled it out: _Finally have a rough location on the ship. Fliers needed._

888

It was a bad start that we were so divided, but then, we were two distinct groups forced to work together. Even if both groups were heroes, it was limiting working with another group and that was something I could read was being thought by both groups.

Percival and Merlin flew a little ahead of me, with me trailing a little. It wasn't because of my broom, but I didn't want to fly too fast and be slow to react if an unseen attack came at me.

The Sword unit of the Suits was to our collective left: Shadow Star taking the lead and the other following in a loose pattern; Grand Mage flying on a serpentine dragon made of light; Obelisk and his stony self; and Ace flying with fire shooting out from nozzles on the bulging pack on her back. She looked the most unkempt, her suit without any theme, just bulges at points that I took to be weapons.

We'd been flying for fifteen minutes, searching through a large stretch of ocean for the ship and we had yet to find it. All through that time, there had been silence between us all. Even Ace was quiet and that said a lot.

"Spotted," said Merlin. "Follow me." We slightly changed course, moving faster than we had before now that we weren't actively _looking._

In seconds the ship became clear in the distance, which was my time to act. I pointed and flicked: Two spells back-to-back. The first ground the ship to a halt while the second pulled at the ship's anchors, making sure that the ship wouldn't move.

"I count twenty people inside," said Ace, her voice sounding in my ear. "Clustered together for the most part."

"I see a shipping container that has people in them," said Merlin. "Three."

She pointed and I nodded, pulling. My target container started floating through the air, slowly making its way towards us. The container didn't get very far before three lances of orange light hurtled towards it.

"No," the words left me and I didn't think.

We suspected that the ship held some of the people that they'd abducted. It was in our best interest to get them before they got too far and in international waters.

I turned and appeared in front of the container, my shields activated and took the brunt of the impact, red lines drawing themselves out in the air around me.

It would be at least three good hits more before the shield disappeared.

I turned, about to tap the container and turn it into a Portkey when _Binary_ jumped out, hurtling towards me. She hit my shield and then punched it _once,_ breaking the thing apart with a fierce crack. I turned before she could jump at me and appeared at the others.

Shadow Star was already moving, pointing a hand and letting loose a thin pane of dark _glass;_ the thing broke apart into smaller, needle sized panes that rained down at the clone. The clone did its best to get out of the way from the storm, but its flight was ungainly and it was hit. The clone disappeared.

"Trap," said Merlin. "Clones on the ship. Some of them disappeared."

"They've got mercenaries," said Shadow Star. "If I'm right about the beams, then that means we've got Howitzer and Applause to deal with."

"Gwydion?" said Merlin.

"I know them," I said. Howitzer and Applause, they were a mercenary duo. Howitzer was a monster para like Jay, with hands and arms growing out most of his upper body; each of these arms could shoot out a beam of orange light that cause paralysis on impact.

But as scary as Howitzer was on sheer scale, he didn't scare me as much as the idea of Applause did. She was a blaster much like her partner, but hers was special: At a close range she could destroy anything that wasn't alive with a clap of the hands. If she destroyed the first things successfully, on a second clap she could destroy a similar thing in a much larger distance.

It was highly likely that she would be able to destroy _all_ of my wands if she got too close.

"There's still one person inside the container," said Ace, dodging to the side of a beam of orange light. "How do we move forward?"

Percival dove forward and then quickly right, out of the way of a beam. She flew towards the container still flying towards us and pulled a short staff by reaching at her side and then threw it towards the opened hole of the container. The short staff broke apart into seven smaller parts, and the parts turned into light that darted into the container.

Another Binary clone jumped out, carrying the real Binary in its arms. It must have increased it's density because it dropped like a rock towards the water. Percival reached her side and pulled out another staff, shorter than her longest staff, but on the long side. She threw forward and the staff's head detached, revealing a cord of white rope that flew true and wrapped around Binary and her clone.

She flew up and _pulled._

"Grand Mage!" said Shadow Star.

The dragon flew forward, doing its best to dodge the beams but sometimes failing. The dragon recoiled but it still flew forward toward Binary and her clone.

Ten beams of light flew at Grand Mage, making it look like a thick beam of orange light. I pointed and a shield appeared between Grand Mage and the blasts. All ten of them hit the shield and it winked out, leaving only one beam to fly at Grand Mage.

The man dodged it without trouble, the tail of his dragon whipping around Binary and her clone and then flying skyward. I turned and appeared close to Binary, stunning her.

"Everyone back!" said Shadow Star and he flew high into the air. He clapped both hands together and then let loose another veritable rain of black glass, all of it having split apart from a single large pane.

Before it could hit, the entirety of his power disappeared.

"She's on deck," said Shadow Star. "Only way she could do that."

 _Homenum Revelio._

I felt the people that were on deck. There were four in total and they were running, moving so that they could get in the ship. I reached into the fields of my costume and pulled out a bird, I tapped it and the said, _go._

It would be able to detect people even if they were invisible. It speared towards the ship, moving towards its target. Percival and Shadow Star followed the path of the bird, the former having pulled out a long staff that was firing a staccato of golden beams while the latter was firing his panes of glass.

The attacks were much faster than my bird and with the spell having not yet faded I could sense as they changed direction. Not moving to get below deck anymore, but choosing to get behind cover from some of the shipping containers.

I jerked my wand and as one, all of the shipping containers started flying, hovering into the air.

My bird was close now, but it was having to duck as orange beams of light flew from the still unseen pair. What power could let them do this, I wondered? But it wasn't important.

Played like this, we couldn't really get close. Most of us were afraid of the effect that Applause could have on us, while the others were more afraid of the effect of Howitzer's beams.

The only hope we had was either getting a lucky shot in, or my bird. I put my wand at my throat: "Geminio!" I said.

There was an explosion and then all at once there were over twenty birds. Howitzer, from his position, stopped trying to fire at us and instead worked to fire at my birds. But this was bad, each time he hit a bird it would reappear with another of itself joining the fight.

In a second there were close to two hundred of the birds and in another, there were absolutely _none._

"Fuck," I heard Merlin say. "She's not supposed to be able to affect things that are alive."

But were my birds truly alive? They hadn't been conjured, it was hard to enchant something that was conjured from scratch, but they'd been created from chunk of metal and transfigured into birds. Did whatever magic that ruled their powers not consider my conjurations to be alive?

If that was true, then my trump card was gone.

"We're going about this the wrong way," said Ace. I became aware, for the first time, that she'd been quiet for nearly all of the fight. "Hey, Gwydion, do you think you can pull the ship? Pull it so that they have nowhere to go? They don't exactly know how to fly."

"I can," I said. I moved my wand through a quick pattern and the ship started to rise from the water, moving into the air.

"Trouble!" said Merlin and she pointed. The corner of a container flew free, reoriented and pointed towards the closest in our group, Ace. She flew left as pellets of red light flew at her; she pointed an arm and a part of her wrist popped up, firing bullets at the drone. The thing didn't even have time to react before it was torn into shreds.

I looked around and there were more of the things, most of them jumping free from points where they'd stuck against the containers. Merlin speared forward with vigour, ploughing through the small detonations as she was blasted by the drones. She started flying at the drones and tearing them apart with her mass.

Shadow Star was doing the majority of the work, his beams cutting off a large swathe of the drones.

Howitzer chose that moment to attack, firing not at us, but at Grand Mage and his dragon. The dragon was too big and too slow, especially since it was still holding the hyper dense Binary clone. I turned and appeared, again making a shield.

It caught the attacks and still had enough energy that it continued to stand.

"I'm taking them," I said to Grand Mage. "So you can fight." He didn't speak, only nodding. I flew towards the tail of the dragon and took hold of the still stunned Binary. The clone glared at me.

"You fight and she might die," I told the clone.

"Don't really believe you," it said.

I shrugged. "I lose nothing if she dies," I told the clone and grabbing Binary. "She's going to the Bird Cage anyway." I turned and was pulled in the tube, but then I couldn't go all the way through, with my arm being _caught_ outside the tube.

I was pulled back and I was aware of stinging all throughout my body, with them most persistence at my arm and portions of my leg. Blood was starting to seep in between my clothes, and my head was getting lighter with every passing second. I'd been Splinched and it was bad.

"I've been Splinched," I told the others. "I'll be right back."

I turned and disappeared, appearing further up and away from the fighting. I started moving my wand in a long and complicated pattern, making sure that I keep my mind away from the fight and instead focused the entirety of my being on this spell. Slowly, the pain started to dull as the pieces of me started to return. The blood I'd lost wouldn't be returned, but at least I wouldn't die from blood loss.

The process took three minutes and then I drank an Invigoration Draught. Vigour ran through me and I turned again, appearing in the battle.

In the three minutes since I'd disappeared things had gotten worse: There were more drones in the sky, Merlin had shed the outer layer of her body and was fighting with her slimmer self, and Ace was on the dragon with Grand Mage, both of them working to dodge the drones and lances of orange light.

Binary was no longer held by the dragon.

"Harry," said Merlin's voice. "You should be the only one that's able to hear me."

"What is it? What happened?" I asked.

"EMP," said Merlin. She flew forward, dodging pellets of red light and then flying for a drone. She grabbed the thing and then threw it at a much large drone, both broke apart as they hit each other.

"When we were starting to gain ground," she said. "They took Ace and me out." She was caught by a few pellets and she looked in the direction, flying to dodge more before moving out of the way as a golden beam from Percival took out a few of the drones.

There were a lot more drones than before and the shipping containers that had been in the sky were all gone. The ship itself was still in the air which made me think that the containers had been intentionally destroyed.

A few of the drones noticed me and they started firing at me but my secondary shield activated. It wouldn't have the same strength as the previous shield which meant I couldn't bet on it for long. The small degree of fire resulted in large scars running through it.

I reached into my pockets and pulled out another bird, tapped it and then let it fly free. "Don't get too close to the ship!" I shouted, belatedly remembering Applause.

The bird flew and it was hit by a pellet. It became two birds and one of them slammed into a drone, Vanishing it.

"Geminio!" I said and there were fifty birds and then a hundred, all of them slamming into the drones and Vanishing them. From the ship another drone flew free, a large sphere three times as large as a person.

It detonated with a massive boom and my shield activated, still frayed. Beyond that, nothing happened.

"Harry?" said Merlin.

"Yeah?"

She let out an ugly laugh at that, even as I was confused. Shadow Star flew out of the way of an orange beam and fired at the sphere. All of the beams disappeared before they could hit the giant sphere.

"Harry, clear the sphere, and get Ace out of here. Latter's priority," said Merlin.

I nodded and jerked my wand at the same time disappearing. I still wasn't sure what had caused me to Splinch before, but it could be likely that it was Grand Mage's construct.

"With me," I said to Ace. She nodded and then grabbed my hand, jumping so that she was behind me on the broom. I started flying away from the construct.

Before I could pull myself into the tube, Percival flew at me. When she was close she said, "Bring Gawain."

I nodded and then turned. I didn't Splinch this time. I appeared in London, in the room where the others would be waiting for me to have come to get them.

Sir Kay and the Mad Hatter were there, but I pushed that back, instead focusing on moving forward. Ace jumped off.

"Ace will explain," I said and an idea hit. "Dame Gawain and Sir Daniel with me," I said. "Quickly. The others are losing."

"He was telling the truth," said Mad Hatter. I rushed forward on my broom before he could say anymore. I took Sir Daniel by the shoulder and expected that Dame Gawain would be there with her enhanced speed, but I didn't care all that much.

I turned on the spot and appeared in the air, over the sea but not yet close to the fight. Sir Daniel almost dropped but I quickly made him hover with a spell, gesturing so that he would have a place on my broom.

"You were in quite a hurry," said Gawain, behind me.

"Yes," I said. "The others are losing. We're facing Howitzer, Applause and a bunch of tinker drones. Dame Percival thought it was a good idea to bring you, Dame Gawain. I don't know why."

"I do," said Gawain. "It was good of you to bring Daniel, I think," she said.

"Though one has to wonder why when he didn't have the full picture," said Sir Daniel.

"I have my own plan," I said. Because I did, even though I had to be on the lookout for the perfect moment. "Keep firing," I told him. "That way I can keep flying."

I turned and re-appeared.

Everything had shifted again. My birds were gone and so was Dame Percival. Merlin and Obelisk were dodging red pellets while Grand Mage and Shadow Star were working to take down the drones.

"Over the ship," said Gawain.

"Partis Temporus!" I said and a path cleared. I flew straight through, moving before the things could take aim. When we were over the ship Gawain jumped off. I turned on the spot and appeared away as the things started firing again.

"Merlin. Where's Percival?" I heard Daniel say.

"On the ship," said Merlin. She dodged a salvo of pellets and then grabbed a drone, throwing it again. Obelisk was doing what Merlin had been doing with her previous body, flying _through_ the drones in an effort to destroy them.

I had to wonder why he was dodging the red pellets while he used his body when it came to destroying the drones.

"They got her," she said.

A beam of orange light flew at us and I pulled to the side. Sir Daniel pointed a hand and out flew a massive burst of wind, cone shaped and _spinning,_ it flew too slow, moving towards the ship but as it passed some drones, it turned them into _dust._

"Don't worry, I'll find her," I heard Dame Gawain say. "But can anyone point me at Howitzer? I can't seem to find them."

"There aren't that many places to hide!" said Merlin, irritation in her voice. The deck was clear since I'd cleared it of the shipping containers. "Look harder."

"Drone," said Shadow Star. "They must have a shielding effect that means we can't see them."

"Fucking hate this," said Merlin. She flew out of the way of the salvo. "Hate that I was taken out so easily."

"Focus," said Sir Daniel, and it was at this moment that his attack landed. It hit the ship and took out a massive chunk out of it, revealing a portion of the hold.

He didn't wait, firing off another of his blasts.

"Obelisk!" said Shadow Star. One word and there was motion: Obelisk speared down and through the small amount of drones still left. He flew down and into the torn up part of the ship, the sound of metal tearing sounding as he slammed into the ship.

Merlin was gone, I noticed, and I when I tracked her she was already entering the hole with the ship.

"More of your birds," said Shadow Star.

I acquiesced, making it so the birds would Vanish the drones. The flew out and split and in seconds we had the field again, my birds outmanoeuvring the drones.

"How do they keep making more of these?" I asked, feeling a little frustrated. The last batch should have cleared all of the drones even if it had been caught by Applause.

"They eat metal and reform," said Shadow Star. "It seems your flock has loosened the rules that govern us all. They've seen you create something that can reproduce and now others are doing the same."

I chose not to focus on that, instead trying to think how to move forward.

Dame Percival was gone, probably captured. There was a woman here who could strip us of our gear if we got too close and there were Howitzer's stunning lasers. But more than anything I was scared of the drones, in a closed quarters situation they would be worse of a pain to deal with than they were out here.

Was that perhaps the reason that Shadow Star and Grand Mage weren't going in? Their powers were better for combat at long range?

Though looking at Grand Mage I couldn't see it. His constructs seemed to be tethered to him with meant even with how large his construct was, it was still _there._

My birds would likely level the playing field but there was still the chance that one of them might run into Applause and then we might be in a situation where my bird disappeared again. It could be a waste, but then what was the alternative?

Sir Daniel's second projectile hit and tore another massive chunk out of the ship, revealing more of the hold and some living quarters.

"You can't give another attack with our people there," said Shadow Star. "You might accidently hit them."

"Merlin's there, she'll see the attack," said Sir Daniel and he fired again. But this time, the ship started _moving._ It started pulling the dangling anchors and flew forward.

"That's not supposed to be possible," I muttered. "Unless…"

"Deity," said Sir Daniel. "Those drones must belong to Vantage, which means Lancermight be there."

"Fuck," said Shadow Star. The sky was clear now save for a few drones, but those were quickly taken down by Shadow Star before they could get close to us. "Obelisk doesn't know. Mage."

Grand Mage nodded and then his dragon started to dive forward, moving to the second of the holes.

It should have been easy to tell, especially with this many drones. But all tinkers could create drones in one capacity or another. Where Vantage was different was that she had a tinker specialisation _in_ drones. She could make them do anything, which meant they could be as dangerous as _Merlin_ on good days.

She was dangerous in the large scale and her weaknesses were shored up by her teammates. Lance was a close combat fighter, with enhanced speed, strength and durability, above and beyond his light weapon which only affected organics. Armour meant nothing to him, which was its own sort of dangerous.

Deity could impart life on inanimate objects he touched, giving them attributes of a particular animal. From the move of the ship, it was likely to have some bird attributes that meant it could fly or maybe he was using my spell to keep it in flight?

"Finite Incantatem!"

The spell hit and the ship dropped.

 _Fuck. Probably shouldn't have tried that._

Before the ship could plough into the water, however, it caught itself, flying and then started to move.

"Don't do that again," said Sir Daniel, his voice panicked.

"No," I said. "I won't."

I was aware for the first time that we were alone, Shadow Star and Grand Mage were inside the ship. The drones no longer thought us important because they kept closer to the ship than come at us.

Sir Daniel's last attack, from the looks of it, would miss. He pointed and fired off a series of smaller beams that moved much faster, they hit the ship and didn't do any damage that I could see. He fired off again, two attacks this time the arrival of which coincided with the disappearance of the lance attack.

"We should go inside," said Sir Daniel. "You might do more good within."

"No," I said. "No. It's too dangerous. I just need to think, see how I can leverage this. Keep firing."

Sir Daniel gave me a grim look. My mind wanted to think in two directions, one considering the future threat posed by Sir Kay and, by extension, the rest of the King's Men, and this one here. Where were stood to gain information if we captured one of them.

Even though I wanted _this_ to be priority, I couldn't do it. Master effect against master effect. I wasn't sure of the interplay, but I could test it out.

I pointed my wand and Sir Daniel reacted, a hand coming to point at me. I tilted my broom downward to make him lose his mark but his attack was too _big._ My shields activated but they were too frayed; it ripped through them and its edges hit me before I could turn on the spot, appearing further in the air.

Sir Daniel was dropping, but he still had the cognizance to let out another of his massive attacks, one that flew in my direction.

I turned and appeared lower, pointing _up._ He saw me and pointed another hand, firing. The cone of air that had been gradually turning disappeared another appeared, this was hurtling down. It moved faster, perhaps aided by gravity.

I ignored it.

"Imperio!" I said and the spell ripped out, having to pass through the cone of air to get at Sir Daniel. As they overlapped there was an effect, the spell and air breaking apart in a massive explosion of air and sparks.

"Protego!" I said and the spell bore the explosion. Sir Daniel wouldn't have the same advantage. I turned again, appearing further in the air. Sir Daniel was falling, his costume torn by the explosion.

"Aresto Momentum!" He stopped as I turned, appearing close. He started falling and I spread myself so that I could slow down, catching him in the process. He moved to point an arm but he didn't get the chance.

 _Please work._

"Imperio," I said, pushing the intent, _wanting_ to use the spell. "You're no longer under the effect of Sir Kay's master effect."

I read shock from his expression. Shock above the pain and having some of his skin flayed but the detonation.

We started falling and I stalled our momentum. I summoned my broom but all I got were chunks of wood incoming from the ocean. I'd have to make a consistent effort to keep our downward momentum stalled.

"No," he said and he sounded harrowed. "That's not possible."

"Focus," I said. "What I did to you, I have to do it with Percival and Gawain. I don't know if you know what you would have done but—"

"I do," he said. "I know. They'll fight us."

"Then we have to make this quick," I said. "Part a large part of that is getting Applause out of commission."

Sir Daniel's previous shots hit the ship and this time it cried, oil starting to spill and falling for the ocean. I jerked my wand an the oil was funnelled into nothing as it spilled. Couldn't have it damaging the ocean, Luna wouldn't be able to forgive me for collateral damage on the side of things.

"Gawain to Gwydion," a voice sounded. "Applause is out of commission and I've found Percival. I'm having trouble with Deity's creatures and she can't use her ability in such a short time frame. Requesting assistance."

"Our chance," said Sir Daniel. I turned and we appeared in the ship, watching as one drone ate chunks of metal, growing larger and then spitting out metal plates that grew into more of the red pellet drones.

Sir Daniel pointed and tore a massive path in front of us that destroyed the forming drones and the drone mother.

"Not much for close combat fighting," he said. "It's more likely that I'll destroy the innards of this ship."

"It's fine," I said. "It won't be a problem any longer." I reached into my pockets and pulled out two birds, the first I set so it could vanish any drone that it came across while the other was meant to capture.

 _Homenum Revelio._

I got the image and started moving, Sir Daniel running behind me. My birds were already starting to overrun the ship, disappearing not just drones but a large set of knives that could fly, spearing towards us. I guessed that they were close enough to drones for them to react.

One hallway had a chair that was alive. It roared and charged at us before it hit it with a spell that transformed it, turning it into a large black dog. I hit it with a Gemino Curse and said, "Any living furniture or whatever that isn't clearly human. Destroy it."

The dog became dogs that formed into packs and it started moving throughout.

Sir Daniel and I kept moving, Apparating at times when we wanted to save time. We moved until finally we found people.

Shadow Star and Grand Mage were in the stomach of a massive chameleon, while a cloud sparking with electricity swirled around them.

"Breaker," said Sir Daniel. He pointed and his cone shot off, hitting the edges of the cloud. It reacted, swirling up and away from the chameleon, out of the path of the cone of air.

 _Breaker: Their body breaks apart into something else. The effects usually break muggle physics._

 _Human to Effect State. It was a transformation between those two beings._

There was already a spell that was meant for that sort of interplay, a curse that was meant to wrest control of an Animagus' form and get them back to their human states. It was a curse by any definition, extremely painful to the subject, but it was the only way I could think to move forward.

I fired into the cloud and the electricity flashed in a fierce storm, but it was getting smaller, taking on a human shape. It started to coalesce, getting denser before it turned into a boy, tall and pale, dark hair and very familiar.

"Aiden," the words left me. "Imperio! You're no longer under Herald's control."

The boy fell to his knees, breathing hard. I appeared at his side.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, voice shaky. "Pain."

"It won't last long," I said. "Just don't try and transform or it'll get worse."

He nodded. "Please. Get me home. My parents. My brother."

"We'll get you home," said Sir Daniel. "But you need to tell us of the others. The other prisoners. What are their abilities?"

"Right. Right," he said.

"Martha. She's…She can touch things and make them detonate," she said. "And then there's David. He's invincible, I think. With all that comes with that. Strong. Fast. Then Evan, flight, shield and he can form clones. He's the most powerful, but his abilities made him into a monster cape."

"That means he'll be easy to spot," said Shadow Star. "Something that will help us with his varied abilities. I think now might be the time for reinforcements."

I nodded. I grabbed Aiden, pulling out a cord from my pocket and then turning on the spot. I didn't even linger, the others had expected this when I'd first arrived. I threw the rope and it moved, going to wrap around everyone who would be fighting. I turned on the spot and the cord pulled everyone else.

We appeared, still in the room.

"The situation?" said Sir Kay, righting himself to a stand. It was all of the King's Men here, or at least the leaders. Sirs Kay, Bors and Galahad and Splice.

"Vantage has been dealt with," said Sir Daniel and there was a hint of anger in his voice. "Gawain has been trying her best to get at Percival, but between the drones and Howitzer she can't step out long enough to grab her."

"Then let's flood them with activity," said Sir Kay. "Let's move!"

Splice split apart and then started running, Sir Galahad doing the same. He ran through one of the ship's wall, not paying attention to the fact that it was made entirely of metal. Splice and Sir Kay followed with their enhanced mobility and we followed.

"You can counter a master effect," said Shadow Star. He was moving slower than he could. I became aware for the first time of my stupidity, I'd shown them the Imperius Curse, if they stretched that knowledge to its natural conclusion then I would be treated with distrust.

"Yes," I said. "It's complicated. Can we focus on this?"

I turned slightly and appeared in front of the others. Another Human Revealment and I started guiding them by focusing on Apparating in front of them. There were no drones, instead there were a large amount of my birds.

"Merlin!" I said, hand pressed at my ear. "You've been quiet. Where are you?"

"Fighting…" she said. "Fuck this guy's good….Not doing much damage on my front, but it _hurts."_

"Lancer?" said Sir Kay.

"Yeah," said Merlin. "Him, both Binary clones and a drone helping them. It's larger and it has a way of keeping back your birds."

 _Fuck._

"I can feel them," said Splice. "But I can also feel Percival. We're closer to Percival."

"How many people with Percival?" said Sir Bors. "Five, not counting ours. But three of them are iterations. Clones, I think."

"That would be Evan," said Sir Daniel. "We should head there, first. Take them down so we can have all our members against the others."

Splice nodded and they moved faster, so fast that it was getting harder to keep up, especially since the halls were so filled with Splice's clones. But I did my best and we arrived in a large room, I acted instantly and formed a shield as clones appeared, all of them lunging at us.

Splice's own clones disappeared and reappeared in droves. Sir Galahad lunged through them and caught a clone, spinning and then throwing it against another; a beam of orange light tore through and hit Sir Galahad, sending hurtling back.

Howitzer, short and shirtless, a myriad of arms stretching out a of his back and the hands pointed in different directions. An Evan clone was standing next to him and next to it was Percival lay on the ground, her legs bent at an odd angle and her breathing shallow.

Sir Kay ducked out of the way of a beam and I did the same, turning and then appearing further into the room and calling up a shield. Shadow Star fired and the clone brought forward a large shield, neutralising the attack.

"Carpe Retractum!" I said and a white rope sprung out of my wand, moving towards Percival. Another shield appeared and this one was sent gliding forward towards me. I turned on the spot and started a curse before I had to pull up my wand in a shield; three lances of light flew at me.

There was a crack as one of the shields disappeared. Then a tongue stretched out, hitting Percival and then pulling her into Grand Mage's chameleon.

Gawain appeared in that moment, grabbing one of Howitzer's arms and arcing with electricity. She disappeared before she could get shot, but the man slumped.

There was still two clones and they were doing a good job, working in tandem to keep the gathering forces at bay. Dodging out of the way and shielding themselves, using the shields to attack and quickly calling forward more shields.

"Gwydion!" said Shadow Star. "Undo Herald's power!"

One of Splice's clones looked in my direction, shock and fear in its expression and I knew I was going to be attack. I started pointing my wand but Gawain was already in front of me, one hand grabbing my wand while the other grabbed at my arm, arcing with electricity.

It didn't work, the dragon hide holding back the effects of her electricity but she still had my wand.

My left hand flicked as I turned on the spot. There was a crack as something slammed through my side.

"Confringo," I managed to say, extra wand in hand. The spell caught Gawain, letting off a large fiery explosion that pushed her into the air while it sent me slamming into the ground, a sharp pain forming every time I breathed.

"What's going on?" I heard Shadow Star shout, ducking back and still firing at the clones that were using the chaos to their advantage.

I tried to move my left hand but I couldn't, pain dominating me. Even so I pushed and I pointed, "Protego Totalum!" I shouted, but my voice was weak. The brilliant shield appeared.

"He's an insurgent from another world!" said Sir Bors. "Keep him from escaping."

"No," I said. "But it was steadily getting weaker. That's not—"

"That's not true," said Sir Daniel. He acted for the first time, firing his cone. It tore through a path through Splice's clones, into the Evan's shield and pulverised one of the clones. "Master effect in play. Every King's Men's a liabi—" He didn't finish, with Gawain appeared and taking his shoulder.

Shadow Star started firing indiscriminately, and one of his lances managed to hit Sir Kay before he could speak, pushing the man into unconsciousness. The attack was the perfect counter against Splice, taking out all of her clones and forcing her real body to form, taking that out too.

There were two cracks, tables that were sent at Shadow Star. He wasn't able to dodge and the table broke him. He didn't move to get up.

"No," I heard the Grand Mage say. His chameleon turned into a dragon that lunged forward, there was a crack and the dragon reacted, turning into light and then forming a triceratops; then thing charged forward and only to break apart as it was struck by something I couldn't see.

Dame Gawain appeared again, bloody but pushing herself to grab Grand Mage. The man screamed and then dropped, not breathing. Dame Gawain disappeared again.

The cracks got more fierce, bashing against the shield and not giving the clone room to do anything. Three hits from the almost invisible projectile and the shield disappeared; the clone responded by concentrating the shield in front of it.

Dame Gawain chose that moment to appeared mid-jump, hugging the clone and then arcing with electricity, Evan's blue feathers set alight by Gawain's power.

She let go, disappeared and then reappeared, breathing hard.

"Well, this is a mess," said Sir Bors. "We'll have to kill him. Blame this all on him."

"We have more trouble than that," said Dame Gawain. "He'll be suspicious and he'll eventually figure it out."

"We'll deal with that when we get there," said Sir Bors. "For now, let's deal with him."

"The…There'll be war because of this," I said.

"But our standing as the King's Men will be greater," said Sir Bors. "I've thought this through. There's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise."

He reached into a compartment in his suit and pulled out a marble. Red scars appeared on my shield just as cracks sounded. I had to get out of here.

White hot pain ran through me as I moved, but I did, going to press my ear before I stopped. It wouldn't do to let the others know that Merlin wasn't under the effect. But they would suspect.

Right now, I had to ensure that I was alive at end of all this.

 _Emergency Portkey activate,_ I thought and I disappeared just as a series of cracks sounded.

888

AN: Probably should have done arcs like Worm. This fight might have seemed less long. But I've made my bed.


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

 _Okay. Okay. Okay._

I pushed and my mind started working. I had a hole through my right arm, my ribs were broken going by the breathing and I was already in a state where I'd lost blood and I hadn't had opportunity to drink a Blood Replenishing Potion.

 _All that against me, but I'm a wizard. A pretty good one. I can overcome this._

The first part wasn't panicking, and I didn't.

At this very second, I was still the only one in danger, which helped ease my mind a little. I just had to focus on fixing myself then I would look at the grander scheme, quell all of this before it became an _incident._ I wasn't sure _how,_ yet, but that part wasn't important in the now.

The motion was ungainly with my left hand, but I was a practised wizard and I could do _a lot_ by intent of a spell alone. It also helped that this spell was one I'd gotten a lot of practise using—a dark few months, but even those could teach me a useful skill.

A flick my clothes were pulled off me with too much force, disturbing my right arm and eliciting a grunt that momentary took away the steps to what I was trying to do. My breathing was off, my body forcing me to take in deep breath that cause sharp barbs at my side. I worked to breathe slower, concentrating on pushing my mind into order.

I couldn't help the stray thought of what the mask of my costume looked like, it mimicked my face to a degree, was it the panting of a lion or was it as feeble, not befitting the image of a Gryffindor?

 _Focus._

I could fix the damage, but I wasn't the best at medical spells and I didn't want to do them with my left hand when I could so easily get distracted. There was symbolism to the left hand and I couldn't help the ugly feeling that the abstract might kick in when I least needed it, making my injury worse.

Instead I pointed awkwardly at my arm and made a circular motion. The spell stung, a coat of white covering one side of the hole, but when the stinging disappeared, the pain was gone. I became aware for the first time that I had a headache, a dull throb that had been hidden behind the pain of my shoulder.

Head injury.

Things would be easier now. I pointed and flicked up: From the tent in the middle of the space flew a set of vials with different coloured potions. I drank in the first and vigour ran through me, making me think better.

I pointed at the wound and _summoned,_ stray bits of marble and shattered bone flew out of the wound, taking with them a large amount of blood I didn't have all that much off. I drank a Blood Replenishing Potion and watched as more blood forced itself out of the wound, it was easy to ignore since it didn't hurt.

A flick and a murky liquid flew closer. I drank it, cringing of the taste and the burning sensation as it ran down my throat; with how small my injury was, it would take roughly three minutes before the shattered bone grew in place, but I had to work quicker.

I drank another potion and the headache eased.

With confidence I pointed at my ribs, pushing past the feelings that I was using my left hand and the Blackthorn wand, and said, "Episkey."

There was a short and sharp snap, then a rising heat before the injury cooled. If I'd taken too long in healing my ribs, then the potion running through me might have thought to regrow my ribs, resulting in a mess. It spoke of how out of it I'd been not to know the proper procedure.

After the bones grew in, I'd heal the surrounding muscle and skin with Essence of Dittany. If I used it before everything was done, there would was the chance that something bad might happened: My muscles fused to bone was the image that came to mind.

Now I could think.

Each of the King's Men that had taken part in the mission had their own personal Portkeys to return them to base. Even Merlin and Percival who were movers I'd given, because teleportation was obscenely faster than flight.

Dame Percival hadn't used hers, which meant it must have disappeared when her armour did, but that wasn't the direction my thoughts should be taking. I needed to be able to predict my opponents.

The King's Men were my enemies, now, and I needed to be able to quell whatever they were going to do. I was an other worlder, if that got out in an uncontrolled manner then it would mess things up: _Bad,_ I imagined Sasha saying.

It would be worse if they told people that I had the ability to master people to great degrees, and that since everyone one in my world had the same set of powers, it would be an entire world with people that could master others.

People wouldn't like that, and they would overlook all the good that we were planning to do in the future.

I had to control this. The question was how.

I took a breath and there was no pain. I tried to move my arm and it moved well enough. My wand switched hands and I summoned another set of clothes and put them on, stretching a little, then moving to absently layer shielding enchantments.

How would this play out?

Sir Bors was direct, taking the short route through a problem. He was the worst person I could have dealt with in the moments past because whatever idea he had in mind, it was unlikely that I would be able to dissuade him. Perhaps I might have with Dame Gawain, but then I hadn't spent all that much time with her and I couldn't get a read on her personality.

For that matter I didn't really know many of the King's Men with the exception of Merlin, and even with her I only knew her on the surface level.

"You're getting hung up on the wrong things," I muttered to myself. "Figure out the path forward. How do we move?"

I first needed to get away any leverage the King's Men had to make me come to them. Elsa, Brody and Aiden. The former two would be protected by enchantments, but Aiden was in a bad spot. He wouldn't be able to use his ability with the curse I'd used on him, or he might but there'd be a lot of pain there.

But why would he? He wouldn't know what had happened, wouldn't know that his life _might_ be on the line.

"Would they, though?" I asked.

Five minutes had passed and I poured the Essence of Dittany over the wound, sealing it shut. I felt the impulse to move, to _do_ something, but I didn't. It wouldn't be stupid when I didn't know the playing field.

"What do I know?"

All or a majority of the King's Men were under Sir Kay's master effect. I didn't know the limits of the effect, what it actually drove people into doing, but it had scared Sir Daniel.

I took a breath and pushed back to the last few minutes, doing my best to remember everything that had happened, everything that had been said.

Sir Bors' first thought had been to say I was planning an invasion. He'd also mentioned that the King's Men would come out ahead even if there was a war. How would that work? How would this play have been acted?

Slowly, an image started to form: Sir Bors saying I had been mastering them to gain influence, that they'd finally figured it out with Shadow Star's words and that they'd fought back. I could see them spinning things so that it seemed like I'd just attacked, used one of my many abilities to take them down.

The only people that would survive would be the King's Men and they would stick together. Merlin was a factor, but I knew enough about her to know she'd keep quiet. She'd been part of the King's Men for so long and not tried to do anything about the master effect.

 _But what could she have done in the first place?_ a part of me asked. I pushed those thoughts aside, they wouldn't do me any good now.

The amount that I knew was limited, but I could already draw out a path. The King's Men would let the news out that I was from another world, that I had killed two member of the Suits and then they could watch from afar as the hounds closed in. Of course I could run, but I might be leaving open the threat that they might actively look for my world and things would get bad from there.

Much though wizards were powerful, they weren't like Parahumans. From what I'd seen, Parahumans lived to fight in one form or another, while wizards and witches were just ordinary people with _magic_ for the most part. We were already small in number and that number was smaller when it came to Aurors and other forms of magical police.

I had to stop this from being a war of the worlds.

"Expecto Patronum." Four balls of light spilled out of my wand and formed into large stags, all of them looking at me. "Speak only to them," I told them. "First tell them you'll speak to them only if they're alone."

The four stags disappeared, messages to the thinkers of the Prime Minister's office. Hopefully they would respond even with the rules they abided by. There would be war, I hoped that would be impetus enough.

An avenue dealt with, but there was still the King's Men themselves. There'd be repercussion with what they'd done, killing Shadow Star and Grand Mage. Those repercussions would mean that there would be less eyes on the situation in Belfast and the Enlightened might actually succeed in summoning an Endbringer.

When things got out, there would be a state of confusion, and the villains would use that chaos to their advantage, further plunging this world into darkness.

All this was too large and I was having trouble thinking through it. Everything would have ripples and I couldn't predict what those ripples would be, that worried me more than anything.

 _Hermione would be able to help,_ I thought and just as quickly the thought was countered. _Hermione would take too long. This requires quick action and Hermione isn't good at that aspect of things._

I had to do this, but be mindful, pulling personalities from all three of us. Me with quick action, Ron with his ability to track the general trend of how people moved, and Hermione with how she could gather information.

 _Hard to do that when you don't have the time. You should have thought in this direction before_ acting _again without really thinking things through._

It was starting to be a pattern I couldn't help but recognise, not sufficiently thinking through things and just acting. Looking at the past it was easy to miss this because I'd always had the others to temper me. But now that I was on my own my recklessness was being revealed with most of the actions I was taking.

I'd recognised this the day before while talking to Sid, but not even a full day later and I was already falling back on this behaviour. Could I even change at this point, or was the behaviour so ingrained?

 _Again, you're focusing on the wrong this. Focus on this for now and then you can be introspective._

Or maybe this was the right track. I needed to be tempered and for that I needed allies.

This was stupid, I knew, but I had to check. I moved to my tent, rummaged until I found another broom and my cloak. I put that on, climbed onto my broom and then turned on the spot, appearing where the ship should have been.

It wasn't there anymore, but there were no chunks in the ocean which made me think that it hadn't been destroyed. Was it likely that they'd abandoned ship and that Deity had used his power to move the rest away?

That just meant I had to move faster. Splice, Mad Hatter and Jay were the sensory thinkers. There was Makhai too, but I didn't think that the cloak had the same weakness as the Disillusionment Charm. I wanted to check, but that would be hard to do if it meant getting too close and being taken down by Dame Gawain.

But before I could do all that I had to make sure that those that I could check, Elsa and Brody, were okay. I turned and appeared in my apartment. Elsa was in the living room pacing and the Crooked Man was standing in place, hands folded behind his back and watching her, whispering as he usually did.

"We're leaving," I said, pulling off my cloak.

"Harry," Elsa said, starting a little and looking in my direction. "What's going on. The Crooked Man says danger's coming."

"Remember when I told you don't worry?" I said and she nodded. "Well, we have to worry. There's a master in the King's Men and I think they might use you to get to me."

"Fuck," she said. "But I was supposed to be _safe,"_ she said, directing the heated words at the Crooked Man. She snorted. "For now, yeah, but how long will that last?" The Crooked Man whispered. "Of course," she muttered.

"Anything useful you might want to fill me in on?" I asked.

Elsa shook her head. "He just said he says things as he sees them," she muttered. "He didn't see things turning out this way until they had."

Maybe a time-limit to her abilities? We hadn't really tested them and she hadn't wanted to, happy to just _be._ Sitting on the couch and watching television most days.

Not the focus.

"We'll have to go get Brody and his family," I said. They didn't have any movers, but I'd created a host of Portkeys to facilitate movement and Knoydart was part and parcel of that. For all I knew the might already be there.

Except I could find out in an indirect way.

"Elsa," I said. "We're going to Knoydart." The Crooked Man whispered and Elsa shook her head. They were already there, they'd predicted where I'd move, but then they must know me well. Know what I would and wouldn't do.

If I wanted to surprise them, then I had to do something they weren't expecting. Something I would hate myself for doing.

I swallowed, feeling a pit of unease. "Expecto Patronum," I said and the Patronus appeared, already running, moving to give Aiden his orders. He was an unknown threat and he was powerful, it wouldn't be too long before he'd incapacitated Mad Hatter and Splice.

"How much danger are you in if you stay here?" I asked. "I could take you somewhere else, but I need to take this opportunity to capitalise on some chaos."

She looked at the Crooked Man and then nodded. "I should be fine," she said.

I nodded and then donned my cloak again, turning on the spot and appearing in the headquarters of the King's Men. I didn't have any allies in the older members of the King's Men save Merlin and Jay if she hadn't already believed whatever story she would have been told. There was Ace who should have still been on base but I wasn't sure what they would have told her.

 _Homenum Revelio._

The image of positions appeared in my mind.

"Harry," Merlin's voice sounded in my ear and it had relief. "Holed up in the lab with Nandi and Ace." I tracked the image I had in my head, see the potions I knew Merlin's lab to be and felt three people therein, outside there was no one.

There were Splice's clones in one position and they were being wiped out and the reforming but something I couldn't get the position of. Most likely Aiden: The image changed and I could sense Aiden, spread out over a large area.

"Ah. Mr Potter," said Dame Percival's voice. "So you've joined us. I'd thought you'd scampered off to your world."

I ignored her, turning on the spot and appearing in the lab. I didn't take off my cloak, instead watching for a moment the three to see if they weren't under the effect. They didn't look like they were, Merlin had her small drones attaching new arms and welding parts of her back; Nandi seemed lost, her hands working in a flurry as they crafted something; and Ace was tinkering with parts of her armour.

"I would have, in your position," she continued.

Merlin whipped around, looking in my direction. I pulled off the cloak and there was a reaction, Ace pointed up while Nandi let out a small squeal and stumbled back.

"Sorry," I said, pulling out the earpiece with Dame Percival still talking through it. "Don't know friend or foe. What happened?"

"We should be the ones bloody asking the questions," said Ace. "One second we're fighting the enemy and now this? What in God's name is going on, _King's Men?_ "

I looked at Merlin. "I made a mistake," I said. "An impulsive move that set the dominoes falling."

"Don't be fucking cryptic," said Ace. "Someone say something or I start shooting you all to get answers. Where are Shadow Star and Grand Mage?"

I took a breath. "Dead," I said. Ace stopped. I couldn't see her face with the mask, but I could guess by the extended look in my direction that she didn't entirely believe me. "Sir Bors and Dame Gawain."

"Why?" said Nandi. "They're heroes."

Merlin swallowed. "Sir Kay mastered them," she said. "This is all his fault."

"That still doesn't make sense," said Nandi. "Sir Kay's a hero. He was one of the _founders_ of the King's Men. Why would he do that? You must have made a mistake."

"I didn't," said Merlin. "I tested it. Set up system that tracked how I felt about him, created drugs to help me counter the effect and watched the others. How they would agree with something Sir Kay suggested even though I knew they would never agree with it otherwise. It's true."

"Sounds like you knew for a while," said Ace. Heat in her voice. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Merlin shrugged. "Didn't know who I could trust," she said. "Didn't know that anyone would believe me. Then…" She shook her head. "We shouldn't be focusing on that. We have to take them down, stop this from hitting the media."

"Hitting the media?" said Ace. "You want to limit this? They killed two members of Sword and I don't even know what happened to Obelisk. And you're working to shove that under the rug?"

"We can't let the work of one man mess up everything the King's Men have establish," said Merlin. "The King's Men do good. Once this has been cleared up, Sir Kay's effect done away with, then we can course corr—"

Merlin was interrupted by a crack, fire spreading outwards and pushing her back. It had happened so fast that I hadn't entirely realised what was happened, but from the aftermath it was clear. Ace had shot Merlin with her newly repaired arm blaster.

" _Fuck you,"_ Ace said. "Fuck you and your King's Men. This won't be pushed under the fucking rug. They'll know the fucked up messes you all are." She shoved on her jetpack, grabbing a belt on the table and then pulling out three small grenades. "I'm making it out of here with or without your help and I'm calling the Suits."

Merlin got to her feet and made a small motion with her hands. Her arms shifting, parts moving to reveal thin nozzles at the centre of her palm. Ace took a step back flicking her hand and revealing more slots out of her arms.

"Stop," I said. "We can't fight between ourselves." I looked at Merlin. "I think it's a good idea that we call more of the Suits. I've already contacted people to make sure this doesn't ripple outwards, that my world doesn't look bad and there's no war in case I die."

Emotion flickered through Merlin's expression, the clearest betrayal I'd ever seen from her. But try as I might I didn't understand it. This was so much larger and she was just hung up on the King's Men's future.

"This will dest—" A bang from the other side of the door interrupted her. She looked behind her.

 _Homenum Revelio._

There were over a dozen people out there. That would be Sir Galahad and Splice. Where was Aiden? I searched through my mind to look for an all-encompassing presence and I didn't find it.

The map was too vague in my hand. I didn't know who was at base and who wasn't. I couldn't know if Aiden had reverted back to human position or anything else.

"I don't want to fight these guys," I said and I extended a hand for Ace. "But I want it known in all of this that I didn't cause this, no matter what they say."

"I'll speak for you," said Ace. She moved over to me and took my head.

I looked at Nandi. She looked at her sister and then quickly rushed for us and took my hand.

"Merlin?"

She stood for a long moment, watching at the door, then she looked at me. "Promise me you'll help me rebuild them," she said, and her voice shook a little. "I can't let my mother's legacy die like this," the words were whispered so low I barely heard.

"I'll help in any way I can," I said. She nodded and then moved to take my head. With one last Patronus sent, I turned on the spot with the Belfast base of the Suits in mind.

888

"It is with a heavy heart that I start today by saying that the King's Men have been found lacking," said Sir Bors, sitting behind a desk that looked out of a window. Behind was the city of London and by the positioning I could that he wasn't at the King's Men base.

He let out a sigh, wiping his face. The man looked tired, as though he'd been under the effect of a dementor for so long that all the happiness was gone from him.

"A matter of minutes prior to me preparing this speech, the King's Men and sect of the Sword unit were on a mission to stop the heinous activities that have been taking place in Belfast. We found evidence of the route that the Belfast Boy were taking when…selling _Parahumans_ and we got a lead.

"Our movers started towards them with the rapid response unit of the Swords aiding," he moved on. "Merlin, Dame Percival, our newest member Gwydion, and Shadow Star, Grand Mage, Ace and Obelisk. On arrival of the ship we were supposed to be gathered together so we could fight whatever threats were found there. But this didn't happen as planned," he said.

He took a drink of water.

"It should have been clear given what we knew of Gwydion, the degree of paranoia we should have had. But he was a boon, a parahuman with an amalgam of abilities that would have been a godsend in our fight against the scourge that are the Endbringers.

"It's why we accepted him in the first place," said Sir Bors. "He spoke of promise and showed us wonders. One of which you would have seen in Belfast. The _flock._ What he didn't tell us was that his boundless possibilities, also expanded in the master direction—"

"Fuck me," I said and I pressed a button, pausing the video and _pacing._

I was in a cell, which I didn't mind. I'd told them that my abilities stretched in the master direction and that I'd mastered Aiden and Sir Daniel to undo Sir Kay's effect. The King's Men had to test that and Ace needed leadership because I'd seen from her body language that she wasn't about to follow orders from members of the Hearts.

Either the Queen of Swords or the Knave of Swords would be here soon, but before they arrived, it was probable that the Wand would arrive to have a greater presence in the city. The city supposedly know knew that the Enlightened were here and they needed more paras in sight less they start to panic.

Too many things were happening at once.

All above that, there was _this._

I pressed the button and the video continued.

"We should have realised," said Sir Bors. "We were using one of our thinkers to keep a watch on him and in this moment he summoned this thinker to help against the mission against the Belfast Boys. There, he mastered our thinker but he slipped. He couldn't master them all and Shadow Star, in his last act, passed this information to us.

"We fought, Gwydion, but with his variety of abilities, he managed to escape. But not without trying to kill us all. It is unfortunate," he said, "but he killed the heroes Shadow Star, Grand Mage and Obelisk, and the villains Howitzer, Applause and Binary.

"It with this level of threat in mind that we applied and were granted a Kill Order against Gwydion. He sought to bring down one of our institutions, something even the deranged master Herald hasn't ever tried to do. Using us he might have thought to usurp even our government. His threat must not be allowed to persist."

He let out a long sigh.

"I hope that these events don't diminish us too much," he said. "I hope, since we have found the courage to come forward with this information, we will be forgiven. Know that a mistake such as this will never be allowed happen again."

The transmission ended and the news hosts spoke, detailing what they thought about this and the path that the various groups and the government would take. The word seemed to be that perhaps the thinkers in the Prime Minister's office might be used to find me.

They were likely under Sir Kay's effect too.

I let out a long breath and then moved for the door, about to open it before I stopped. Going back to _pacing._

They hadn't mentioned that I was from another world and that made me think that they didn't want a war to start even if they had been prepared for it on the ship. But then those had been different circumstances.

The door opened before I could finish the thoughts and a man wearing a suit and a helmet-like mask with a with the image of a red knave scripted by the digital light.

"Well," he said and he had an accent of a person that spoke French, except there was something else there. "We're royally fucked."

"It's not as bad as it looks," I said. "I already sent messages to the Prime Minister's office. They'll know that what the King's Men are—"

The Knave stopped me with a raised hand. He shook his head. "That's not the problem," he said. "The problem is everyone else. Any thinker worth their salt will know this is obvious bullshit and I have the utmost faith in the thinkers working for the Prime Minister. But that wasn't the point of all this, it was limiting what _everyone_ could do."

"No," I muttered. I was starting to realise.

The Knave nodded. "They said enough to get the public thinking towards a certain direction," he said. "Being a master is already something our society finds hard to comprehend and easy to fear. In the right combination, they could rule this world and there's little that can be done. It's especially worse against a master whose true capabilities are unknown."

I let out a long breath. "Anyone going against them and people will react," I said. "Standing will be lost because people will attribute any persecution of the King's Men to me. They'll think I mastered them."

Knave nodded. "It'll be chaos," he said. "Above and beyond what even the Enlightened are pushing into effect."

" _Fuck,"_ I said. "So we can't do anything about them?"

"My read on you?" said the Knave and he shook his head. "You would be a hindrance. I get the sense that you would foolhardily act and not think of the consequences until after the fact." He shook his head again. "We'll take care of this. In the meantime, you should lay low. A lot of villains will be after you."

"So they've won?" I said, and I couldn't help that my voice broke.

"In the now, yes," he said. "They've won. We might be able to undo this down the line, I'm sure, but first we need _a lot_ of information. But since resources are already so spread thin, that will have to be _after_ the next Endbringer attack. The Enlightened will likely go a lot of damage over the next few days, especially since the calamity that has gradually rising in Brockton Bay. The Suits will need most of their resources focused here."

"What about your people that they've killed?" I said. It was reaching, hoping for something, that they might do something but I had it mind that they wouldn't.

"We'll deal with that when we have the time," said the Knave. He stood a little back, gesturing outside the cell. "You have leave to take a tour. But would you please not leave? We can't really stop you with the plethora of abilities that you have, not without making you an enemy and I have it in mind that _that_ would be bad. You'd go off and do something—"

"I have to go," I said. The Knave shrugged. He made me think that he'd predicted that something like this might happen. I turned on the spot, it took a little time before I could speak to Sid, especially since they were alert after what the receptionist describes as 'balls of blue light from a master coming into the office.'

"Got your message, Harry," said Sid. "But with Bethany out of commission we're in the spot where we can't tell if the statement is true or false."

"But if it was true," I said. "Would you do anything about it? The Knave of Hearts says otherwise. That they can't really do anything without the populace reacting."

"And they're right," he said. "Having not had much time thinking about it. We can't touch the King's Men right now because if we did, it would make people suspect that we've been mastered."

"That's what the Knave said." I was frustrated. I wanted to fight but what would the result be at the end of the day? I would just be pushing things from a precipice. That would be bad in the short and long term, because it would decrease the confidence that people had in their government, and if that institution faded…I couldn't even guess what was going to happen.

I let out a long sigh.

Sid gave a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Even in their insanity, the King's Men at least left us an avenue to work. They didn't tell people of your identity, nor did they tell people that you're from another world. Though this does limit us, it means that we'll have to keep your world a secret from certain people. Though we've already pushed things forward and spoken to the PRT. I'm excepting to speak with their Chief Director by the end of the day."

I let out another long sigh, running a hand through my hair.

"This is fucked up," I said.

"It is," said Sid. "But right now it can't be helped. This situation is bad and it will bad still. But Sasha has told us that if we act against the King's Men things will be worse still. I have it in mind that it's only then that they'll release information from another world."

"Then there'll be panic," I said and again I sighed. "Right now people are expecting Parahumans to deal with this. But if things are different, they know about my status as being from another world. They'll expect the government to do more."

Sid nodded. "I'm thinking increasing the funding of the King's Men," he said. "They're the only hero group that we have and people we expect that we outfit them as we often did the army when they were still truly a thing."

"I wish I could just fight someone and…"

"Harry, no," said Sid.

"There's a kid, Brody and his brother Aiden. I have to get them, because I might be willing to put up with this, but I won't let them fall under the _fucking mess_ that is the King's Men."

"No, Mr Potter," he said. "I'd rather you didn't. Because if you do and something bad happens to you, then I can't trust that your people will be rational in how they deal with us. Then there will be a long term badness because we won't have your…magic to help us in the future."

"You're handling me again," I said.

"I am," said Sid. "You don't have the same sort of protection that you did before. I can read you. I feel how impassioned you are. But I also know you have an eye for _scale._ " Another sigh. "Now, I have it in mind by your resignation that you won't do it. I also know that there's something you want to do, something you feel I wouldn't speak out against."

"Elsa," I said. "I don't know if they'll do it, but they might go to my apartment and take her. They might learn more from me using the Mad Hatter."

"Then you should get there," he said. I was starting to turn on the spot when I felt a shiver pass up my spine, someone had just appeared in the space where I'd appeared.

I pulled out my Patronus and said, "Expecto Patronum."

I didn't have to wait long before an otter arrived and said, "Yes. We're here."

"Of course they'd appear when things are royally screwed," I muttered. "I'll be back with the others, they're here." I said and Sid nodded.

888

AN: I might be over-estimating how much of a role public opinion plays in the decisions government make in the UK. This is mainly what I've noticed my looking at the politics of my own country, particular when it's close to time for votes to be cast.


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

I appeared and I smiled, even though a part of me was surprised by how _large_ the group was. Even so, I pushed that aside, letting the tumultuous surge of emotion settle as I looked at my friends, Zabini and two people I didn't know.

"Harry," said Hermione and she sounded excited. She rushed forward a little too fast and I almost stumbled back when she collided with me in a hug. "You have no idea how worried I was."

"She started reading muggle comic books," said Ron. "Andrew's fault." The younger man had the grace to look abashed at that. "It was terrifying stuff. Hermione kept mumbling to herself that you'd gotten yourself embroiled in an alien invasion."

Elsa snorted at that and for the first time I could see the others really notice her. She shuffled a little at that. "Aliens…aren't real," she said and it sounded feeble, a little off kilter.

"And who might you be?" Hermione asked. A smile on her as she looked at Elsa.

"Elsa," the girl returned. "Harry's…been giving be a place to stay for a while. Protecting me so I don't get disappeared."

"Disappeared?" said Hermione, just as Zabini said, "You've been involved in this world's politics? _Great._ "

"What did you expect from Harry Potter, though?" said Seamus, and he detached himself from the group, coming to give me a one armed hug. "Missed you, mate. Though it seems you've gotten yourself a cushy gig."

"Cushy is not what I'd call it," I said and then I smiled. "But it's not like the Auror Corps. More in line with what we were looking for." I looked at Elsa and then I said, "I should probably make introductions. Hermione, Ron, Seamus, Susan, Andrew, Terry, Zabini—though he'll likely make you call him Mr Zabini—and two guys I don't know." I said all this gesturing at each person.

"Hello," said Elsa and she gave a wave that almost looked sarcastic. I absently had to wonder how one was able to achieve that, but then it was probably a teenage superpower all on its own.

Ron, Hermione and Susan gave the girl warm smiles. Ron even waving back with a little too much excitement.

"This group is larger than I thought it would be," I said. "Assumed it would just be two of you."

"We're not kids anymore," said Ron. "Kind of forces us to take a step back and think before we do something. Especially something so _large."_

"Which is a perfect segue back to what I asked before," said Zabini. "You've been meddling with this world's politics?"

"Yes. No," I said. "It's complicated. Can we get away from here? Get something to eat? I've been expanding energy—"

"Is that blood?" said Susan. She pointed at a patch just a bit to the tent. A part of me didn't like her in that instant because I'd wanted to push it back just a little, that I'd royally screwed things up and a lot could have happened if things had turned out a little differently.

I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair. "Was going to have to tell you guys this any point since we'll have a meeting," I said. I sighed again. "But I've already made enemies."

And I started telling them what I'd been doing for the past two weeks.

"Fuck me this could have been bad," muttered Zabini. "I can already see it, how hands would be tied. The Wizarding World would expect action and knowing that there's a quasi-magic threat would mean the union of the magical communities. The same would be said on this side and there'd be an inter-world war because you wanted to play hero."

"You don't have to be too harsh about it," I muttered. "I'm beating myself up as is. I know things could have gone worse and I'm lucky that they turned out this way. But…I don't think I would have not done what I did knowing what I know now. Sure I'd change a few things to make for a better outcome, but…"

"You saved Elsa and Brody and Aiden," said Hermione, sympathy in her voice. She sighed and I couldn't read what she was thinking which scared me a little. "It's done, it makes no sense focusing too much on it except where it offers us the opportunity to learn. Now, we just have to figure out the way forward."

"The first step being no more 'heroing,'" said Zabini. "We don't interfere in this world's justice system. Let's look at this like what it is, opening up trade."

"Seconded," said Terry. "I get that you're all about saving people, Harry, and we're going to do that. But we'll have to make sure we heavily restrict ourselves in what we do to what their governments tells us. That way we have a shield in case anything bad happens. We'll be accountable, which means we'll be able to shift blame in certain areas."

I didn't like it, not that I'd had much choice at any rate. I was burned in the UK. I could probably go under a different identity as a tinker and use enchanted objects but with the powers of the thinkers in this world I might get noticed and even if they knew the King's Men were lying, they wouldn't care because there was money involved in all of this.

But there was the larger fact, my realisation just hours earlier, that I needed to be tempered. It would be a step back if I fought against this.

I nodded. "I'll let you guys take point," I said. They were smarter. "Els—" I was interrupted by muttered curses and Zabini's guards pulling out their wands as the Crooked Man appeared and whispered.

"I'll go off to the tent," said Elsa. "Do anything in there." At that the Crooked Man disappeared.

"What in Merlin's name was that?" said Seamus, he also had his wand out now. As did everyone else except Andrew who'd just started and stumbled back.

"The Crooked Man," I said. "Elsa's power. It's sort of a seer in that it can sense when something is going to put Elsa in danger. What I was about to tell you probably would have done so."

"Seer," said Hermione and her eyes were shining. " _A reliable_ seers?"

"The dangerous knowledge?" said Susan before we could get side tracked. Hermione would enjoy this world, I was sure of it. Figuring out as she often did magic while working with the Group.

"Right," I said, focusing back on everything. "You guys are Spooks," I said.

I knew this was fact with Seamus. We'd left the Auror Corps round about the same time and he'd disappeared just after I'd been tapped by Kingsley to be in his Secret Service, and appearing later saying he'd been on vacation. Susan hadn't even joined the Auror Corps which had been strange because she'd looked up to her aunt, Madame Bones, it made sense that she'd join some measure of law enforcement even if it was the Secret Service.

"And so are the guards," I continued. I didn't know them, but there was a certain sense to the way they stood that made me think that. At first I might have pegged them as Aurors, but the Wizarding World had had a long peace that had made the older Aurors complacent.

The same wasn't true for them, which made me think that they faced some regular exercise or they were held to a higher standard. The rest was pulling from context, how would they be able to disappear when they people would be on the lookout for that?

If Harry Potter went somewhere, then Hermione Grander and Ron Weasley would surely be there. This wasn't true, of course, but our career in Hogwarts and the time spent away during Voldemort's reign would make people think in that direction. All of this made the same amount of sense if they were being helped from high up: The Minister of Magic.

It was grounding a little, to get my mind to pick apart a problem that I could use past information to figure out instead of moving on the fly, hoping the fact that they didn't know about magic would help me through.

"I've figured it out and if we come across the wrong thinker they might be able to figure it out," I said. "Be prepared for that."

"These thinkers are really powerful, then?" said Susan.

"Scarily so," I said. "But I think you guys may be better at dealing at them than me. Especially the three thinkers we'll be dealing with today. Sid, he can sense emotions, Christian can tell if you're lying but I haven't yet figure out _how_ he does that, and Sasha can tell if any action is good or bad, and she can set what good and bad mean, I think. There's also Bethany, but I don't think there's anything that we could do to counter her ability."

"Occlumency," said Susan. "It could be a form of Legillimency which means we'll have to limit those participating to those proficient at the technique."

"Could also be some form of the body reading," said one of the guards. He was taller than the other, his skin dark and his hair starting to grey at point. "I've seen the techniques used by muggle con arts and some vampires. Listening to the heart when someone speaks and noting any spikes."

"Not an avenue I'd ever thought I'd need to defend myself against," muttered Susan.

"I have," said Zabini. "My mother tried to get me to pick up the skill but I never had the patience for it."

"I could set something up," said Andrew and there was an edge of excitement in his voice. "It wouldn't take too long with the right spell combinations. Make sure that the heart's beating at a continuous rate while dulling the real heartbeat."

"Let's do that," said Hermione. "Making note of the different rates of our heartbeats. Except Harry. If this is the direction their power works then they'll be suspicious."

"Calming Drought too," said Ron. He looked at Hermione and shrugged. "Didn't really focus on learning after I thought about leaving the Auror Corps."

Hermione frowned. "You told me you were proficient," she said, a little heat in her voice.

Ron shrugged. "I really didn't think I needed to," he said. "There were ever really only a few people that were good at Legilimency and I was good enough that I'd be able to detect them. Harry told me that a Shielding Charm also works to block the spell." He shrugged. "Decided I was fast enough that I'd be able to block it."

Hermione let out a breath. "Suppose it doesn't matter now, at any rate," she said though she didn't sound happy.

"Let's get started, then," said Zabini. "The sooner we finish the preparation the faster we can go talk to them. I'm sure they're monitoring us with their seers…?" I nodded. "Which means they'll likely know that we aren't breaking their laws. But I'd rather we arrived there fast, it looks better."

And with that there was action. Hermione and Andrew worked on the enchantments while Zabini and Terry talked amongst themselves, most likely discussing what the direction they would take the meeting.

The two Spooks moved over to Hermione and Andrew after a minute and what I could hear was them discussing issues of security, and whether or not they should _cloak_ themselves.

That left me with Ron, Seamus and Susan staring at me and I could see what they wanted. "Alright," I said. "So it's start in a library with this muggle…"

888

"Mr Potter," said Sid. "And…you've brought a veritable contingent." He said all this with a smile before it turned into a frown. "All of whom are cloaked in that way you do."

"Forgive us," said Zabini. "But it would be unwise to go into negotiations when we weren't on a level field."

Sid hummed, looking at me and then Zabini. "Yes. Quite right. I'd introduce myself, but I think Mr Potter has already done that with the time you took in getting here. At any rate official introductions are going to be done at the conference room where various representatives will meet us. I'll lead the way."

There were nods and we followed, Sid leading us towards the conference room.

"Is Bethany in?" I asked as we walked, walking a little ahead of the group. "I wanted to give her something that might help with the headache. All of you should probably be here."

Sid gave me a smile. "I get the feeling that your negotiator friend there didn't want that to happen," he said, his voice a whisper though this didn't mean much. We were a little too close to each other and the others could here. Not that they said anything.

I shrugged. "They don't know you lot, but I do," I said. "I like you. I want to make sure that no-one walks over the other."

"Quite fair of you, Mr Potter," he said. He took the vial. "I'll give it to her while you and your friends get settled." He gestured toward a large set of double doors, on opening them, they reveal a long table with chairs sitting on either side.

I couldn't help but get a combative sense from the room.

Zabini and Terry had guessed how the room might look, the configurations it might take and we'd decided them how would sit. It was probable that there were cameras here and Terry had mentioned that everything we did and said meant something, and even this, moving to our positions without a word, meant something.

Zabini sat in the middle with Terry and Hermione to his left and Susan and Seamus to his right. Ron, Archibald, Frederick and I stood.We were the tallest with the exception of Zabini who was round about our height, and we'd all worked in the rigid Auror Corps which meant we knew how to project strength while standing.

This was a whole different game and I didn't mind that I wasn't invited to play.

We didn't have to wait too long before the delegation walking in. Seven in total without counting the four thinkers. The lead was a man, on the heavier side and somewhere in his hundreds…no, that couldn't be right. He was a muggle which meant he was somewhere in his late fifties if not early sixties, he looked _good_ with his suit and I pulled back the hypocrisy I'd thought towards Zabini for going to check it this world's men fashion was too different from our earth.

Another woman entered from a separate door and took a seat at the head of the table.

"I think we should begin," the man said as he nodded. "You can start," he said towards the woman and to us he said, "She'll capture everything that's said here. Keep a record for completeness sake. You can request a copy if you so please."

"We'd like that, thank you," said Zabini.

"This is the first inter world gathering between Earth Bet and, what will be referred to until another designation may be set, Earth Dalet. Is that acceptable?"

Again Zabini nodded.

"The date is the twenty-eighth of April thousand and eleven," he continued. "And this meeting is to discuss the expected aid Earth Bet with receive from Earth Dalet. Participating from Earth Bet are: Myself, Rodney Brewer, a representative for the Prime Minster; Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Lisa Wright; the Secretary of State for Defence, Thomas Dunbar; Secretary of State for Scotland, David Browne; Secretary of State for Wales, Stephen Redwood; and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Woodward."

"Representing Earth Dalet," said Zabini. "Is Blaise Zabini, Terry Boot, Hermione Granger, Susan Bones and Seamus Finnigan. We represent the interests of the Allied Group for the Advancement of Wizarding Kind."

It was minute, but I could see as expressions warped, confusion appearing before it quickly disappeared.

"I thought this was a meeting between our two governments," said Mr Brewer. "To have talks about future involvements between our two worlds."

"That would be the case but that would be uncouth," said Zabini. "Our world is in the process of talks about how to deal with this situation. If we should open ourselves to the possible threats and the laws that will have to be brought into place because of the…particular dangers of your world."

"So this is a business deal," said Ms Wright. "You're hoping to use the time before any laws can be put into place to get monetary value from our situation."

Zabini nodded. "We are a business," he said. "I'm hoping that if this makes enough money, it might sway the right people and the law might serve us in the process."

"That's despicable," said Ms Wright, though I got the sense that the words didn't have much feeling behind them.

"It's the only way to ensure that things actively move forward," said Terry. "It's…This is a hard comparison, especially since I don't know the development of your world but I'll make a guess that we're similar enough for the tenants of humanity to be true. People do things to get something out of it, mostly this boils down to the moral sense or the monetary. More people are driven by monetary and it doesn't help us to forget that for our own moral superiority, it makes the most sense to play things so that we get what we want using the restrictions that we're under."

"The world you paint is bleak," said Ms Wright.

"It's nonetheless true," said Terry.

"We'll have to alter slightly," said Mr Dunbar. "But the pertinent question before the this begins. Can we expect war from this or will future dealings with your people be muddied by this meeting?"

"Not war, no," said Zabini. "No one wants war. We both have abilities at hand that might been a great destruction and blur the lines of a clear winner. Though future dealings are something I can't predict. You'll be dealing with a range of people with their own perspective and biases. This, us talking, might negatively affect that, but others might not care."

Mr Dunbar looked at Christian, the man shrugged. "He's not lying, but then I have an inkling that they're using one of their abilities to hide…Yes," he said and he looked at me. "That's true. They're using an ability to make it impossible for me to tell truth from lie."

"Protections as you are protecting yourselves," said Zabini. "We don't want to give up too much."

"And yet Mr Potter's left on his lonesome not having the same protections," said Sid.

I shrugged. "Wanted things to be fair," I said. "Show a measure of good faith."

"That statement's true," said Bethany and Christian nodded.

"The previous statement?" said Mr Redwood.

Bethany shook her head. "It's too close to their world. I could look forward, but that will impair me throughout the length of this. Even with the…potion that I was given by Mr Potter, I've only got one statement in my tank."

"We'll have to work with your abilities as impaired as they are," said Mr Brewer. "We should begin then, with payments, what you could bring to bear and other such logistics…"

As they started speaking, I tuned it out, choosing to go through Occlumency exercises that would purge me of the gnawing need to go check on Aiden and Brody.

888

"…and we thus conclude," said Mr Woodward. "I'm not sure how things will work on your ends but we'll discuss matters over with the relevant parties. You'll be contacted when we have leave to move forward." He said all this while coming to a stand.

Zabini mirrored, giving a curt nod. "I hope you don't mind if we explore you world? We'll make sure not to get into trouble."

Mr Browne looked towards Sasha. "Nothing bad from the actions," she said.

He nodded. "It would be best, though, if you didn't leave the country," he said. "We've started sending out the information to governments since things developed with Gwydion and the King's Men so that it can't be used against us. Some might not like your presence."

Zabini gave a nod. Collectively we turned and disappeared, appearing back at the site. Andrew was there and he was talking with Elsa while he ran his wand over the Crooked Man.

"…just strange," he said saying. "Because from the amount of information its giving you means that it has a _mind._ With how magic works, even if it were unfamiliar mind, it should cut through that and allow me to read it."

Elsa had a look of absolute relief as she saw us appearing.

"He's been going on?" I said with a grin.

"Ever since you left," Elsa muttered, she sounded a little tired. "He's like one of those para-dorks of PHO. Then he goes on speaking Gobbledegook about magic—"

"You learned Gobbledegook?" said Susan.

"I think she means nonsense," Seamus. "Are you guys going to need us? Because I want to get out, see the differences between worlds."

"And let me guess," said Hermione. "You want to take Harry with you?" She shook her head. "That's a bad idea. I'm coming—"

"You can't," said Terry. "We have to discuss the amount of resources that will go into this and thus the price we'll charge per job. There's also the great logistics, jobs and—"

"I _know,_ " said Hermione and she sighed. "I feel like this will be a bad idea," she muttered. "Harry. Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't," I said. "Elsa. You wanna come with? See how these old guys roll?"

"You're not that old," said Elsa and then she shrugged. "Anything to get away from him," she said, pointing at Andrew. The Crooked Man disappeared at that.

"Wasn't that bad, was I?" said Andrew. "These are all things worth asking. Knowing how your—"

"Let's leave before he goes on another of his lessons," said Ron, clapping Elsa on the shoulder and then urging her towards Seamus, Susan and me. "You'll lead?"

I nodded and then turned on the spot, appearing in Belfast. The Crooked Man appeared with us, whispering as usual.

"We're back in Belfast?" she said. At my nod, she asked. "Why?"

"Checking up on Merlin. Seeing how things are going," I said. "There's still the Enlightened to think about and I want to figure out what Merlin will do on the King's Men front."

"Don't worry about it," said Ron. "We'll protect you if something happens."

"But you're not even from this world," she said, an edge of panic in her voice. Our appearance had been noticed, not that it wouldn't be. The Suit's office had a wide range of personnel, most of which I didn't know what they did. They deftly ignored us on appearance, a few milling while others were in little cubicles working on computers.

I had to wonder what they actually _did._ I didn't ask though, that might offend some of them.

Ten of Hearts neared. She wore a suit much like the Knave had, with a ten and a heart on her breast pocket, her mask was a domino mask.

"You don't even know what you'll be up against," Elsa continued.

"Harry was able to handle it," said Susan putting on a small smile. "I like to think I'm smarter than him, better trained, more powerful in a respect—"

"You can stop tooting your own horn, now," Seamus said. I got the sense that he'd censored himself.

"—whatever trust you have in him, it should apply double so to me and Seamus," Susan continued.

"All just words," said Elsa. "I don't know what you can do. But I've seen what the Belfast Boys can do. _Felt it._ "

"Belfast Boys?" said Ron.

"We won't be staying here long," I said to Elsa, choosing to ignore Ron's question and focus on her. I hadn't really thought that being here would affect her as badly as it was. At my words, though, she eased a little, though it wasn't enough for the Crooked Man to disappear.

"Just check up Merlin, Nandi and Ace if she's still here then we'll leave," I said.

"They're the people we're trying to defeat," said Ten. She smiled, face visible because she wore only a domino mask. "Well, them and the Enlightened. Hello, I'm the Ten of Hearts."

"Seamus," he said, gesturing at himself. "Ron and Susan. Ten of Hearts, huh? Isn't your name a little on the generic side? Thought you lot were supposed to have flamboyant names."

"And I thought all witches and wizards were either old men and crusty hags," said Ten. She grinned ever so slightly. "You know what they say about assuming."

Seamus let out a bright grin, chuckling slightly.

"Is Merlin still in? Sort of didn't tell her that I was leaving," I said.

"She left, though she'll be back," said Ten. "Went to get her father. She's hoping to get him here and a little away from the King's Men, though that's a task. They've been everywhere this last few hours, _doing_ in an act of penance. They managed to capture Arctic Wind and Glider."

"There it is," said Seamus. "The flamboyance I was expecting."

I gave Seamus a smack at the back of the head, but he just let out a silent chuckle.

"Good and bad, I suppose," I said. It chafed a little, that they were already working. I had to wonder how Aiden and Brody were, but I held back the urge to go and check. "Tell her that I was here? Doing things on the Endbringer front but I'll be here to check up on her before the day's done. Going to show these guys around."

Ten nodded. "Will…huh," she said. She looked at me. "Mr Potter. Is one of your people making a play? Because a flock of birds just started darkening the coast, steadily moving over the city."

"Fuck," I said, slapping my forehead. "I forgot about that." I looked at the others. "Too much happened and I didn't have time to disable my flock. They haven't attacked anyone, have they?" I asked Ten.

Ten shrugged. I let out a long sigh, running a hand through my hair. "I'll have to go and start undoing that. But with the shit that's happened it will lead people to think that I'm attacking, that what the King's Men said was true."

"Not mentioning the villains that will attack if they see you," said Ten. "People fear people-masters and you go beyond that. It hasn't even been a day and through crowdfunding almost a million Pounds have been raised for your death."

"Shit, really?" said Ron. "How does that work?" He looked at me. "I could catch you and then you could escape, it's not like—"

"I don't think Bethany would let that happen," I interrupted. "I don't have any idea what the money will do, but let's not touch it."

"Not to mention that Blaise would hate the both of you for that," said Susan. "Because eventually that will screw us over. So how are we going to deal with this? I assume you used Seamus' spell as the backbone?"

I nodded.

"Unrestricted?" asked Seamus.

"You never really taught me how to restrict it," I said. "And I'd packed the thing with spells, it could have burst if I tried to make a variation with restrictions."

"Risky," said Susan. "Magic's temperamental."

"Andrew would hate you if he heard that," said Ron. "Once mentioned that to him with Dad's car and then he went off on this long speech that ended up with me learning the intelligence of magic. The worst hour of my life. Worse than History of Magic because actually wanted me to _pay attention._ "

"Are you going to do anything about it?" said Ten. "Or are you going to continue reminiscing? As interesting as it is?"

Seamus pulled out his wand and waved it, summoning a stapler from a cubicle. He moved his wand in a quick pattern and the thing glowed a golden colour for a second before it faded.

"Just close that within range of one of the birds and it'll set off a daisy-chain of disappearances," he said.

"That simple?" said Ten.

Seamus grinned. "I created the spell," he said, shrugging. "That's how awesome I am."

"Right," said Ten. "I'll give this off to Ace. Hopefully she'll acquiesce the request. Thank you for your help, all of you, and please keep Mr Potter away from any trouble."

Ron snorted. "You'd have an easier time getting Snape to give points to Gryffindor," he muttered. Ten and Elsa didn't understand that, but Ron wasn't paying much attention. "Let's go see the sights," he said.

888

AN: I spent much of the week not having written much here, stuck on the conversation that should have taken place. Finally just decided to skip over it because it's in character for Harry to not spend all that time listening to that boredom, and because I really couldn't come out with how that conversation would flow. I'm hoping leaving the negative space will let you fill in something that's coherent rather than me butchering it.

Also trying to work on characterisation, something I think I haven't done at all with the characters that have already been established. That might be hit and miss so bear with me.

Was also planning to show their combat prowess in this chapter, but the people I was going to have them fighting against felt tacked on and I cut that. Something to look forward to in the next chapter.


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Elsa let out a long breath, momentarily covering the Crooked Man's whispers. For a moment she glared in his direction before she looked at me and then Ron and then Hermione. Then, after taking each of us in, she looked back at the broom that was on the ground.

"It really is better if you project confidence," said Hermione, a gentle smile spread on her. "Andrew likes to say that everything means something where magic is concerned—"

"Which is just something almost everyone in the magic world believes in one capacity or another," I interrupted. "More than not in the Ravenclaw and Slytherin houses. Everything means something when you try to manipulate and all that—"

"Is this going somewhere?" Elsa asked, her voice slightly shaky.

I shook my head. "Not really, no. Though I was hoping you wouldn't think about the broom all that much. It helps _me_."

"Well it isn't working," she said. "This is a flying _broom._ It's not supposed to work and yet it does. And because of what? _Magic?"_

"Would it help if you thought a tinker had built it?" said Hermione.

" _Yes,"_ said Elsa.

"Then think of it like that," said Hermione. "A tinker created that and she made it so that it responded to emotions and expectations."

"Why would someone even do that?" Elsa asked. The Crooked Man whispered. "My thoughts on the matter, yeah," she said. It had almost been a full day, enough time that our camp was considerably larger with a more spread out array of spells that were now in Wales instead of Scotland.

It had been enough time that almost all of us were used to the fact that Elsa spoke to the Crooked Man and we couldn't understand it. The only one who wasn't…couldn't get used to it was Andrew, trying to figure out _why_ we couldn't understand the Crooked Man. It had a good thing the man had left for another boring meeting.

"He says because you're all crazy," Elsa said to us. "Needlessly complicating something that should be simple. This is dangerous. The Crooked Man's been saying that over and over. There aren't many safety precautions on the thing and—"

"You haven't even raised it yet," said Ron. "How about you first do _that_ before worrying about when you're actually flying?"

Elsa looked at Ron for a long moment before she nodded and then let out another breath. "You're right," she said and Hermione smiled. "You're right." She took a breath and then said, _"Up."_

The broom wobbled but didn't acquiesce.

"Well," said Hermione. "That was a good starting point. Now keep shouting 'up' over and over until you can call it to your hand. Then I'll start teaching you to ride."

"I thought I was teaching her," I said.

Hermione shook her head. "You and Ron actually love the darned things," she said. "You never really had to learn to ride them. I did. I think I'd know how to help Elsa if she's struggling in a particular subject."

"No offense, Harry, but I'd like Hermione to teach me," the girl said, at that the Crooked Man disappeared.

"Ouch," I said. "Ouch even more because the Crooked Man."

Elsa shrugged. "The Crooked Man mentioned a situation where you flew me too high and expected me to control a broom as I was falling," she said. Hermione gave me an accusatory look while Ron just chortled under his breath.

"I would _never,_ " I said, quite aghast. Though, if I was admitting it, I could see the merit in it. If she was in real danger I could fire off a Cushioning Charm that would catch her before she hit the ground.

"He's thinking about it," said Ron, his grin even brighter.

My cheeks flooded with heat and I rubbed the back of my head, running my fingers through my hair. "Okay," I said. "Maybe I might. You're right. Let Hermione teach you. But if _I_ was the one doing the teaching then I'd eventually teach you how to _stand_ on your broom."

"No thank you," said Elsa. She took a breath. "Up." The broom wobbled with more vigour.

I smiled as I watched Elsa keep trying and gave a whoop as she succeeded on her sixth try. Hermione proceeded to give riding lessons then, on the procedure of a stable mount.

Soft pops sounded from the centre of our site and Zabini and his entourage appeared. Zabini at the centre and there was a cold expression on him. They moved closer, getting to our encampment.

"Everything go well?" Ron asked.

"In a manner of speaking," said Zabini. "Northern Ireland seems to be moving with the most vehemence and they've got the backing of everyone else through their delayed action—"

"But then it really might be the process taking its time," said Terry. "Reading says this world is much like ours in most instances where muggles are concerned. Well…were people are concerned honestly. It might be biases on _our_ part," he said and he gave Zabini a look at that.

"They have reason to," said Zabini. He looked at me and when I turned to the others they were looking at me too.

"Yeah. Yeah," I said. "I know and it's possible. Probably used Sasha to see the outcome if we were there. Probably checked the outcome to see if they went a particular path too. Her ability is really a bitch to work around."

Zabini let out a hum. "Tell me more about these Enlightened," he said.

"Bad guys that see the Endbringers as gods," I told him. "They use chaos to call them near."

"Abilities?" he said.

"Herald is sort of like the Imperius Curse," I said. "Another has a trump nightmare ability, another controls water and there's another

one. They get killed a lot which means they change their roster. They haven't really been seen since they last attacked and then there were only two of them."

"Okay," said Zabini. "Andrew you think you could get started with countermeasures? Maybe Hermione might help?"

There was a small scream and I turned and looked. Elsa's broom lurched and the Crooked Man appeared, plucked her off from her broom and let the broom fall.

"We'll have to at least get some protective enchantments up on our clothes," said Ron. "I'll get started on that. Give me all your clothes, it should take me a couple of hours to be on the safe side."

"Maybe I should do it," said Andrew. "I've been practising the power of the abstract—"

Ron shook his head. "I've got the Weasley family formula," he said. "It's much quicker and more efficient than the pure theory stuff."

"I don't think that's true," said Andrew and then he frowned. "But then it might. There's emotion behind magic and the confidence you play might have a part. Then there's the fact that you're a Weasley and—"

Ron shook his head. "Clothes please," he said. "I'll get started as they come." And then he walked away. Andrew had stopped talking at this rate, watching Ron as he walked away.

"He doesn't like me much, does he?" he said.

"He doesn't like being lectured," I said and then I clapped him on the back, ushering him a little forward. He left, going to his tent, the largest of all gathered tents. "Why are we doing this?" I asked. "Getting involved?"

"They've given us implicit leave, for one," said Terry.

I shook my head. "Still doesn't feel right," I said and then I frowned. "Unless this is information gathering. Getting a lay of the land in case things go bad."

Zabini tensed while Terry's eyes were unreadable. I didn't even try and get anything from Archie and Freddie.

I let out a long breath. "All of you knew this coming in?"

"Yes," said Zabini. "Is this going to be a problem?"

I shrugged. "Not that I have much choice in the matter," I said. "This is the path of things and the only way to move forward is to use this for my own advantage. We're helping people and I'm happy with that."

"Good," said Archibald. "Then we can be blunt about this. We'll need a log of all the abilities you've come across and their limitations."

I gave him a nod. "Expect it within the hour," I said. "When will we move?"

"We'll first hash things out," said Zabini. "Make the implicit explicit and then take it from there."

"I'll leave that to you," I said. "I'll get that log done."

A part of me didn't like that I was doing this, but another part felt that the same was being said for them. It seemed stupid not to expect the worst, especially when the worst was losing a _world._ But the part of me that didn't like this thought, rather loudly, that this was the badness of the world seeping in. Our suspicion of the actions of the other might cause an irreversible action on one of both sides.

That was the scary part of all this, which prompted a third part of me to think that it might just be better to leave this world. Most of us wouldn't be happy about it, but when we looked at the greater scope it would be the best thing on all counts. But then I thought about the individual people and how they would be affected by all of this and I hated myself for thinking in the direction.

"You look pensive," said Ron. He had neatly folded clothes hovering just to his side. "Clothes are done."

"Thanks," I said. I pointed my wand and took over the spell, sending the clothes to my suitcase.

Ron chose a chair and sat. "What's going on? You're not as happy as I thought you'd be when you, you know, _left,"_ he said.

"I didn't leave," I said. I took a breath. "I just took a break."

Ron shrugged. "Whatever it was. I thought you'd be _better,"_ he said. "But you don't seem like you are."

I shrugged, looking at the log and continuing to jot down the abilities that I could remember. Ron was quiet for a long time and I expected that he might leave, but he didn't. He sat there looking at me with an unreadable expression. He was like that lately, more patient than he had been when we'd been at Hogwarts. But then, he'd grown up. Hermione and I were still the same in a respect, though Hermione had always been mature. But he'd changed, gotten older in a way that counted.

I let out a long breath. "I'm just…I don't know what to do," I told him. I looked up and he was looking at me. "There's a lot opportunity to screw things up. It looks like the best thing to do might be to leave."

"It does," said Ron and he sat back a little. "But then, we'd be leaving these people to…whatever the Endbringers are, even though we might be able to help them."

"Exactly what I'm thinking," I said. "It's frustrating because each option has its own sort of badness."

"But then…one is definite, isn't it?" said Ron. I hitched up a brow. "Well, we know for a fact that the Endbringers are going to attack. We know for a fact, at least going by past events, that people are going to die. And we know for a fact that we'll _help._ But us messing up isn't definite. Steps are being taken to mitigate any damage—"

"But there's still the _very_ large damage that might occur if the damage isn't mitigated enough," I interrupted, frustration in my voice. "I fucking hate things not being simple. When we were growing up, things were easier. Voldemort was evil and he had to be stopped. People that willing stood with him were under the same hat and they needed to be stopped too."

Ron shook his head. "That's not true, Harry," he said. "It's just how we saw things. The world has always been complicated we just never noticed it. The trials showed that. A lot of people had prejudices when they stood with Voldemort, but there were some that were just scared. _They_ weren't evil, just in a shitty position."

"We were in shitty positions and we still never did what they did," I said.

Ron didn't mirror my frown. He just shrugged. "Context," he said. "I'm sure we missed a lot. I'm not saying what they did was right," he said when I moved to speak. He must have seen something in my face, something I felt. "I'm just saying…the world has always been complicated. How we deal with that shapes the people we grow towards."

I let out a hollow huff. "Just so you know, that doesn't help me any," I said.

Ron shrugged.

I gave him a smile that I didn't quite feel. "How angry is Hermione with the Occlumency thing?" I asked.

"She's…not really talking to me," he said. "I'm just not sure if it's because she's busy or if she's that angry. I'm thinking of getting her a gift, but I'm not really sure what yet."

"Could get her a computer," I said. "The small kind. They're pretty cheap in this time."

He grinned. "It'll mean something she has to learn to use," he said. "She'll like that. Thanks, mate," he said and then he left.

I hadn't been lying when I'd said he hadn't helped me much, but _did_ show me what I had been struggling with. _Context._ I hadn't put my finger on it before but it was what I was struggling with on the Aiden and Brody front. If I worked on it, then I might be able to help them on my own. But I couldn't without accepting the risk of something truly _bad_ happening.

All of it was an interconnected ball of cause and effect that I couldn't pull apart. I couldn't help with impacting everything else and since things were so dangerous, it left the only clear option, leaving those kids under people with a master that could take away _choice_ from them.

I knew what that was like and I knew the after-effects. After having being led a certain direction for so long, when I was older it became harder to make decisions. The same could be said for them down the line and then they'd hit a slump as they searched for meaning when they were older.

I didn't want that to be true but there was just so much _risk._

Ron's words came back to me again: Context.

There was context here that decided my inaction, even though I found it morally reprehensible. Maybe there was context _then_ too, why so many people hadn't acted and others had sided with Voldemort. Maybe it wasn't just cowardice.

But then memories came back of the number one excuse people had used: I was scared.

 _I'd been scared,_ the thought came and it was filled with all of my anger. _But I_ did _something. I didn't side with him, even when what he was doing was clearly evil. When he was hurting others._

 _Colin had been scared and he'd acted, even died for it._

"Fuck me," I muttered. It was starting again. I could feel the anger starting to burn out and the sadness rearing its ugly head. The last time I'd let it fester I hadn't been able to leave my house for a month, I'd ignored Ginny even though she'd tried to help me through it and…

I took a breath, closing my eyes and focusing. Occlumency was supposed to help and so were potions. But I could _deal_ with this. I just needed to act, _do_ something that made a difference and it would go away.

I focused on the log. The sooner I got it done, the sooner we'd go to Belfast and deal with the Enlightened.

It helped a little.

"Expecto Patronum," I said and the Patronus helped a little more.

888

A fox of blue light appeared and in Terry's voice said, "Harry, do you know a monster parahuman who calls herself Jay?"

I looked up from my meal at that and pulled out my wand, sending out a return Patronus. I felt a little embarrassed that I hadn't thought about finding a way to contact her. She wouldn't have been with the King's Men long enough to be under Sir Kay's power, and she still wanted to remember the person she'd been.

The fox appeared again and said, "She's clean. We'll be arriving with there in a moment." In the distance I heard a soft pop and in unison we turned to face the arrival of Terry, Blaise, Seamus, Susan and Jay.

"Merlin," muttered Ron.

" _God,"_ said Andrew. "Is this a facet of his power? That he formed is changed to that degree?"

"I don't know?" I said. "Jay? Can you tell us anything?"

"I don't remember," said Jay and people started, almost all of them moving to go grab their wands. "Even that."

"He can hear us?" said Andrew, his eyes bulging. He looked in Jay's direction. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

"It's fine," Jay's voice sounded. "It doesn't matter. I'm happy I found you again. I thought you'd disappeared, Harry."

"Sorry about that," I said. They were closer now. I waved my wand and conjured more table and chairs, summoning plates and food. I made sure to sit Jay next to me. "It's been a busy almost two days."

"Yes," she said. "The King's Men…I heard when you were fighting. I decided to run, think over what I wanted to do before they finally found me. They told me to come to you."

"The King's Men said that?" said Hermione. "Why?"

Jay took her seat and started grabbing food, eating it with the mouth that was in her stomach. It must have taken a little bit of effort for the others not to recoil, because even with the beings that existed in the magical world, Jay was a deviation. Elsa was the only one who couldn't school her expression, but then she was sitting to my right and Jay wouldn't be able to see the girl clearly even with how tall Jay was.

"It was Splice," said Jay while eating. "She told me to tell you that she's fine, that everyone's fine and that they're helping people. She said that it was the heat of the moment before, and that emotions were high and that's why they tried to kill you, but if you carry a mutual peace, then there's no reason to fight. She said the King's Men are good and they're still trying to do good and Sir Kay's ability help them think along the same lines."

"Sir Kay's another Imperius para, right?" said Andrew. "Except his would be different from Herald?"

I nodded. "I still don't know how it works," I told them. "But I know that it has a time factor to it. You have to be around him for a period of time before it works."

"It's scary the amount of Imperius super-muggles they have," said Ron.

"Not all that much when you consider that every wizard has the Imperius Curse," said Archie with a shrug. "Just here its specialised. But it can be countered with our own. I was thinking that, since we're going to be dealing with these super-muggles, then it might be a good idea to have the non-combatants curse the rest of us so their Imperius people don't get control of us."

"They'll be the weak point though," said Susan. "With their thinker parahumans they might be able to deduce that we've done this and target them."

"Boundary spells and standing protective enchantments," said Freddie. "I've heard you have a penchant for those, Mr Potter."

I nodded. "The complicated stuff will take some time," I said. "The exotic stuff will mean I have to learn it. But if we found a safe location then I could build the Shield of Permanence. That has the obvious issues though and we don't know if we'll be here long enough for that to matter."

"What's the Shield of Permanence?" said Elsa.

"A permanent shield," I said. She scowled and I chuckled. "It's really that. It's the basic of protective enchantments around homes, but it's used mainly by old families. People that can spend an upwards of six months away from home waiting for the spell to be strong enough to stay without constant sources of magic passing in and out of it _._ But the thing can take a wallop if it gets old enough."

"Then how to do you know about it?" said Elsa.

"Because he's in one of those old families that can do that," said Seamus. "I know he doesn't look it from his scruffy visage. But Potter here is filthy rich."

"You're rich?" said Elsa. "But…you were slumming it?" She shook her head. "All this time and we could have been living it up in a fancy hotel and you had us living in that dingy flat."

"Back on topic," said Hermione. She looked at Terry and Blaise. "I take it this means they've given explicit word?"

"As explicit as it will get," said Blaise. "We told them we were amicable to the idea to start setting things up in Belfast, working on their Endbringer shelters and our people thinking of a non-threatening way of seeding Harry's evacuation constructs—"

"Finally saw it and it was excellent work," said Andrew. "I mean, you could have shaved off a few notches of the spell network's intensity and you could have used a 'stronger' material. But it was still excellent work."

"—and they said," Blaise continued, as though he hadn't been interrupted, "that we had leave to protect ourselves however we saw fit. So long as it didn't break any of the laws that apply to parahumans. Worthy of note, we've officially been designated as parahumans and they said it might be better, since we'll be engaging supervillains, to have parahuman personas. So as to form a distinction between what do as the Group and fighting villains."

"Yes!" said Seamus. "Spitfire. I'm calling myself Spitfire!"

"I think there's already a cape by that name," said Elsa.

Seamus deflated. "Really? Who?"

Elsa shrugged. "I think they're American. Of course you could," she said. "But then people might just think you're them…" She frowned. "They must be international if I know about them. But I don't think they're in the Protectorate."

"Then Blaze," said Seamus.

"I'd rather you didn't," said Blaise.

"Star Fire? Firestorm" Each time Elsa shook her head. "Damn it. Are there even names left?"

Elsa shrugged. "You'll have to go to PHO," she said. "Check—" Seamus stood dramatically, slamming his hand on the table and pointing at Elsa.

"Name a city," he said.

"Bangor?" said Elsa.

"Then finish eating," he exclaimed. "Because when you're done. We're going to pillage that site until we find a name worthy of me."

Elsa looked at Seamus for the longest time before she just shrugged.

"And I'll start working with Jay," said Hermione. She wore a small smile. "I'm not got at Legilimency—"

"Certainly better than me," I put in. Hermione smiled brighter.

"But I think I might be able to make headway. I studied a little while working to reverse memory modifications," she said. "It'll have the same general principles."

"Thank you," said Jay, and she actually stopped eating at that to look at Hermione. "We'll start now?"

"After we finish eating," said Hermione. Jay nodded and then returned to her food.

"What will you be doing?" said Ron.

I shrugged. "Visit Merlin. See how she's dealing," I said. Blaise in my direction and I held up my hands. "Not going to do anything with the King's Men." He looked away, going back to a conversation with Susan and Terry.

"I'll come with you," said Ron. "Want to meet this… _Merlin."_ He had a tone as he said this.

"Am I missing something?" I asked. He shrugged. Hermione snorted, giving me a knowing look. I decided to push it out of mind. Hermione and Ron could get annoying when they were on the same wavelength.

Lunch finished and thus we spread out. Archie, Freddie and Susan moving discuss further security controls; Hermione and Jay going off to start working on her mind; Terry and Blaise doing whatever it is they did, probably discussing contracts or something; while Andrew was likely off to tinker; and Seamus and Elsa disappeared for their grounded internet adventure.

"Should we be going then?" said Ron. I nodded and took his shoulder, turning on the spot and appearing a little away from the Suits' base in an alley. "Before we leave…?"

"Yeah. Right," I said. I pulled out my wand and pointed it at him. "Imperio," I said. "You actions are your own and will be your own even a master tells you otherwise."

He returned it, saying the words in the spell and casting a fog of happiness over me. The impulse to push it back was almost instinctive, but I held back, listening Ron's hard words. "You're actions are your own and will be your own even if a master tells you otherwise."

The happiness eased until it hung low against the back of my mind. We nodded to the other and then left the alley, walking as small distance and choosing a side-entrance as entryway. There was a receptionist there and after giving her my name and waiting as she called, she told us we'd find Merlin in one of the rooms on the fifth floor. We boarded the lift, walked a little before we were knocking on a door.

It hissed open, revealing a mess of machinery. Another tinker workshop, but this one was more disorganised. Merlin was there, so were Ace and Nandi, and all three of them looked enraptured in their own project.

Merlin looked up. "You're back," she said and then she returned to her work. She didn't have her drones which meant she was more hands on in her work. "Thought you'd forgotten about the mess you left when your friends arrived."

I didn't say anything for the longest time, left reeling from what she'd said. I hadn't expected it and I couldn't defend against it.

"Um…"

"That's not fair," said Nandi to her sister. "To anyone involved."

"What's going on?" I asked. Not Merlin, but Nandi.

Nandi let out a sigh. "Dad wants us to return to the King's Men," she said. "Or at least. He wants Thandi to return and he wants me to join them. He wasn't open to the idea of hiding with the Suits, saying that would send the wrong message about the King's Men—"

"Short of it is that he's under Kay's effect too," said Ace. She snorted a little. She wasn't wearing her costume which meant I could see the ugly smirk she wore. "All the good it did not doing anything and it's biting her in the ass," she said.

Merlin tensed, hand clasping tightly around a wrench before it eased. She reached into a compartment that opened on her hip, pulling out a square box. She pressed it and reality tore.

She looked at me. "I'm going to do this on my own," she said. "I've still got money and I'll get more while working with them," she said and gestured at the rip. "I could ask you for help but then I saw what you did with Aiden. I don't want another master hanging over my head. Nandi, you coming?"

Nandi looked in the direction for the longest time before she shook her head. "No," she said. "I think I'd feel better if I stood for myself at least in this. My power's…too close to yours. You're a tinker. I'm a tinker. You can modify yourself and the more I look at directions in my head, the more I'm seeing suits with similar effects to what I've seen you do." She shook her head again. "I feel like…I've always been stuck in your shadow and now my power is doing the same in a way. Maybe if I'm away from you things might be better."

Merlin nodded and then flew forward, wrapping her sister in a hug. "I love you," she said. Then she looked at Ace. "Keep her safe. I don't want make threats, but…"

"I get it," said Ace. "I will."

With that, Merlin glided away, the hole behind her closing. That was certainly a way to feel more horrible about what had happened, and here I'd thought I might feel better after all of this.

"We should get to leaving," said Ace. "The Spade Unit will get here in the hour and then there'll be three units here which won't be conducive to anything. I don't like it, but I should be away from the UK for a while less I do something stupid and impulsive."

"What about your dad?" I asked Nandi. "If you're away then…"

"Thandi didn't want to take the chance that he would return to the King's Men and have the effect be bolstered or whatever. So she's keeping him away. In a place where he can't hurt himself in an effort to get away."

"I guess that's….good," I said and the words were hollow. Nandi shrugged. "I guess…we'll be leaving then."

"Before you do," said Ace. "Maybe help build a teleporter so we can be out of here faster?"

"Name a place and I'll do it," I said. The Port Key wasn't all that much trouble to do.

888

"Well, that wasn't what I was expecting out of that," said Ron. He took a sip of his coffee and frowned in distaste, pushing it to the side.

"Tell me about it," I said. "But then, it's been a hectic few days."

Ron hummed. "Things will get better," he said. "Hermione and Andrew put to the task and I'm sure they can find a counter for that…master effect?" I nodded. "That master effect. And things will get even better when we have access to all our resources."

"You think things will go our way in the Wizengamot?"

"Old families love money," said Ron, his eyes roving over the menu. We were still in Belfast, in a café that looked over a busy street that featured a plethora of expensive car models. When a particularly interesting one would pass through, Ron would pull out his camera and take a picture for Mr Weasley.

" _We're_ old families," I said.

Ron looked up, surprised. "You know, with the many times I've been called Blood Traitor I've forgotten that," he said. He shrugged. "Whatever. You know what I mean."

"That I do," I said. I took a sip of my own coffee, letting my mind run loose and not thinking about anything in particular. I watched as people moved with purpose, how some with chatting with smiles on their faces and some with furtive expressions and looking over their shoulders every so often.

Those I could understand. It was the former I couldn't. They were in a city that was in the process of inviting an Endbringer and yet they just went on with their lives. But then, what could they do? Leave every time something like this happened? It was asking people to give up too much.

It might also have been a measure of security to know that an American city, at least for now, was worse off. The bombings had escalated, with the city's Protectorate lagging behind as their villains seemed to be doing most of the work. At least that's what I'd heard discussed. I hadn't noticed that on the news.

"Oh," said Ron, pulling me out of my thoughts. He picked up the camera at his side and took a shot of a yellow car with a cow as its motif. The thing skidded to a stop in front of the café before a man stepped out, dressed fully in a white and blue costume, orange goggles covering his eyes and a head of red hair shooting out at the top of his head.

" _Oh,"_ said Ron and we were both on our feet, wands pulled out and pointed. A spell was about to spill out when the man spoke and everyone outside stopped.

"Fuck," I said. Then I grinned. "Quietus." Ron looked at me and gave me a short nod.

Herald _strut_ as he walked in, all the while grinning as he ambled through the café, all the while getting closer to us. He walked to a woman at the table next to ours, asked to have her chair and then pulled it closer to us and took a seat.

Outside, people were starting to gather. The streets were rapidly filling with cars as people stopped, got out and started at us through the window.

"Hello, Gwydion," Herald said, _smiling._

"Herald," I returned. I wondered how he knew me, but then if he had the Belfast Boys with him, he had Big Brother and…I really shouldn't have stayed after Merlin had left.

"You can sit," said Herald. "I know my words don't mean much to you and your friend, here, but this is a request on my part."

"And an implicit threat that the people outside will kill themselves if we don't?" said Ron. The people had stopped and were staring in, watching us, sometimes murmuring to their neighbours.

Herald shrugged. "Countermeasures," he said. "You don't live as long as I do without learning from the Mother God. Plans upon plans upon plans," he said. "I haven't reached her level, yet, but I think I'm getting close. It was by my hand that the King's Men were pushed into—" and he gasped "—killing fellow heroes after all."

 _Fuck._ I took a seat at that and Ron followed my lead.

"You were watching," I said.

"I was watching," he said. "Did you know that Big Brother's ability doesn't have a range around him? He'd never thought to try it, especially with his operations rooted in Belfast as they are. But I was interested and it didn't mean much to test it out. Though of course, I'll have to keep him now that I know how powerful he is on the informational front."

"What's this about?" I said, slightly irritated. "Are you just here to gloat?"

"Yes? No? I don't know," said Herald. "I'm…interested in you. Interested in seeing the full lengths of what you can do. I have it in mind, sometime in the future, to perhaps get the Triumvirate under my sway. Eidolon's the worst sort of trouble in that regard. But, using you, I could test how to deal with him. If I can defeat you, then surely I can defeat him, can't I?"

"I don't think that's how it works," said Ron.

"You don't?" said Herald. "Sorry. I don't know who you are."

"Gwydion," said Ron. What I could see of Herald's eyebrow hitched. "Clone," Ron said. "Or at least as close as it could get. Saw the usefulness of it when I saw Evan in action."

"And you're just telling me this?" said Herald. "How suspicious."

Ron shrugged. "You would have figured it out sooner or later," he said.

"Doesn't make sense to hide it," I continued. I didn't know what he was planning, what angle he was playing, but I trusted him. I sat forward a little. "You already saw my wands. You know I'm a trump. There's even enough dots to make a picture."

"You're right," said Herald. "Though it still is suspicious and would have been something I'd been off kilter about, focusing on through our chat enough to make a mistake if I hadn't already known you Gwydion's friend from his alternate Earth."

"What I needed to know," said Ron. He looked at me. "Only way he knows that is if his people have been close to the Suit's base. They're compromised."

I nodded while Herald let out a short guffaw that ended in a grin. "Oh, I like you too, Mr Clone. If you'd asked I might have lied."

"I know," said Ron. "Can we get to the part where we find out what this is about? I was expecting something to eat."

"Okay, okay," said Herald. I took a glance outside and there were more people. Most of them looked scared but they weren't moving, instead just watching us. "Brockton Bay's getting attention," he said. "I don't like that because it means that that attention is straying from us. So I want to make a show."

"A show?" I said, slowly, scared of the words.

Herald nodded. "The Spades have arrived and they're already under my sway," he said. "They'll be the first to attack and then an hour after that, one of my people will attack and an hour after that, and so on and so forth until things start dying down in Brockton Bay.

"I've already seeded a mass suicide through most of the city's population and they'll activate it if they if any other heroes except you and two of your friends are the ones fighting. I've also seeded the command to go off if I'm not on the news this evening to make the announcement with a few other caveats to this. So if I don't make it out of here…"

I nodded, swallowing. "I get it," I said.

"Good," he said. "I want the same friends. Not picking and choosing between them. I want to see how you deal with stress, get a measure of your stamina. I want to know you, Gwidion. So no masks. I'll be watching."

With that, he stood. "You have thirty minutes to make preparations," he said. He grinned. "I have a feeling this will be fun." He stood to leave.

"Wait," said Ron and Herald did. He gave me a short glance. He had a plan. "What would happen if we attacked you now?"

"Well, I have countermeasures," said Herald. "What were you thinking, Red?"

"Oh, just test each other out," said Ron and he smiled a little. "Plans upon plans upon plans. But how do you really know that they're working if you don't test them?"

"A small test of strength before the real fights begin?" said Herald. Ron nodded. "And I suppose you'll want that I not kill people?"

"It goes without saying," said Ron. "We're sort of heroes."

Herald was quiet for the longest time before he gave a curt nod. "Okay," he said. "But I'll hurt them if you don't let me go. I like the sort of small scale chaos this will cause, but there's still he broader fun to think about. Even if I've been aching for this for quite a while. Before we do this needs to be said. You can't talk about or think about anything that you've seen here!"

"I take it we can start?" Ron said.

"Go ahead."

Herald had no sooner said this than Ron and I both acted. The Silencing Spell was quick, not a bolt as most of offensive spells but instantaneous. Ron chose a different angle, he pointed at his throat and, in Herald's voice, said, "Everyone run! You'll get in my way!"

It wasn't panic. It was efficient. People started running for the exits, not pushing or shoving, but opting for speed in an effort to get away. Ron's spell had boomed and so the people outside were doing the same, running away, getting into their cars and gaining distance.

Equal parts shock and excitement shone in Herald's eyes as he stumbled back, a cloak of water erupting off his skin and starting to condense into a from. A hand turned to claws and hardened into ice before they were shot forward, towards us. Our shields reacted and I pointed my wand, slicing it to the side. The water, before it could form a person, was shoved to the side; Ron fired an Imperious Curse and it broke apart as it hit an invisible barrier.

"They're all here," I said. I wasn't sure about Hellscape, but I'd noted two of their powers. The water would be Sea Hag and the invisible barrier was likely Dogoba.

Ron nodded and flicked his wand, sending tables jumping into the air. I followed suit, flicking and breaking apart the tables into pieces that warped into birds.

Herald tried to speak but it didn't work. The café was almost empty now, every having run out, the street was barren but it was starting to refill again. Cars coming to a stop and people coming out of their cars to watch.

The birds dove and then were stopped. Ron disappeared with a crack and my shields formed as icicles were sent in my direction. Ron pointed and was about to fire a spell before his shields formed, something crashing into them with a whump.

 _Homenum Revelio._

There were a lot of people but none of them were in the room.

"Hormophus," I said as Sea Hag started firing more icicles at me. The spell hit but nothing happened. She wasn't a breaker, then, perhaps she was a para like Jay, one whose form had been warped by their powers. Then the only option, "Confringo!" the spell hit and Sea Hag blew apart.

My shield activated as it was hit by, from the sound of it, a torrent of wind.

The shield was physical and it worked in both directions. It was the reason we had to go to the trouble of putting up shields that activated and deactivated as they were needed. Dogoba had surely noticed that with how Ron hadn't continued attacking Herald as he was assaulted by the torrents of wind.

Ron was doing his best, Apparating and Disapparating to attack Herald but the torrents of wind would quickly autocorrect.

"Leave! You'll get in my way," Ron said again.

 _Homenum Revelio._

There were no people around except _two,_ most likely they would be Hellscape and Dogoba, and with how far they were I was impressed by Dogoba's control. But why was Hellscape hanging back when we were winning?

Well, we weren't, we were being kept at bay from Herald who had stopped trying to scrambling away and was just standing, dodging when a spell successfully managed to be shot. I could add to that, but then that would be stupid. I had to move in another direction.

I tapped my head and a bubble appeared over my head. Ron stopped and did the same.

 _Evanesco,_ I thought with a flourish. All the air in the room, all at once, disappeared. Our shields disappeared and Ron said, "Imperio."

The spell hit, and Herald shattered into glass.

 _Homenum Revelio,_ and I looked outside. Herald was there, quickly moving to cross the street. His car had disappeared, probably stolen by the crowd of fleeing people. I started turning on the spot but the colour drained out of the world and I stumbled as I hit a pane of air where the tube should have been.

Ron pointed at a table. "Portus," he said. The table glowed blue, vibrating before it blew apart.

"They've got us cornered," said Ron. "Really wasn't expecting that."

"Gorger, most likely," I said. "I'm thinking glass teleportation?"

Ron shrugged. "We'll have to tell the others?"

I nodded.

 _Homenum Revelio._

Nothing happened. We had no option but to wait it out.


	11. Chapter Ten

AN: This chapter is _long._ Use the breaks. They are your friend.

Chapter Ten

Blaise let out a sigh. It wasn't loud, but it was pronounced enough to get attention. It was helped in large part because there was a terseness to the air. We were all of us, with the exclusion of Elsa and Jay, gathered in the Common Tent, sitting along the table and waiting for someone to _speak._

"Roughly ten minutes," I said, taking a glance at my watch. I gave it a more thorough look and, "Nine minutes and thirty four seconds, exactly."

Blaise glared in my direction. "I knew it was a bad idea to let you go _anywhere_ ," said Blaise. "For that matter, it might be better if you just stayed here where more rational minds might keep a constant watch on you."

"I don't think we have the time to be taking digs at Harry," said Hermione. "We have a situation, and like it or not, it needs to be dealt with."

"Right. Right," said Blaise. He let out another sigh, running a hand over his face. When the hand fell away, his eyes were closed. "We have leave to do as we please as long as we follow their laws. Harry you'll take point?"

It made sense. I'd been here the longest and I knew the broad strokes of their laws, but that would mean actually _leading._

I shook my head. "I'm not much of a leader," I said. Reading expressions, I could see that others were moving to speak, Hermione amongst them. Knowing them, they would be pulling up information about the past, noting my achievements but they would be missing a lot of extenuating circumstance, _context._

"I'm not a thinker," I said before anyone else could speak. If they chose that particular line, they'd expect me to lead and anything I said wouldn't dissuade them. "I can't figure them out. I know the laws and I might know the powers, but if it's actually time to make a plan to take the enemy down..."

I shook my head, looking at Ron.

"You've spent a few seconds in his presence and you have a better grasp of him than I could. You should be the one leading this," I said.

"You sure about this, mate?" said Ron. "You have more experience in this world."

The words had a hollow edge. When I looked at him in detail, the way he sat, a little forward, how still he was and how his eyes glimmered with anticipation. He wanted this, but to say it outright might be too presumptuous.

"I'm sure," I said.

Ron gave a short nod and then let out a long breath, leaning further forward, elbows resting on the table.

"First thing's first: Herald has set things so he has to make an announcement of his show. But Harry hexed him so he can't speak. A permanent curse and I don't think they'll be able to undo the curse."

"Is that even possible?" said Susan. "Magic being undone by their abilities?"

I nodded. "There's one guy, Gelatinous," I said. "He's a trump like Hellscape and he could undo my spells. His and Hellscape's ability aren't the same, but..." I shrugged. "Trumps are like us, versatile in their abilities or their abilities interact with others. Hellscape makes nightmares, but I don't know anything beyond that."

"The best assumption would be that they have a way of countering it," said Ron. "But that's...I don't like making those sorts of assumptions when there are people's lives on the line."

"Do we undo the curse, then?" said Freddie. "Even knowing that this Herald guy will do more evil in the long run? If we take his voice, then he can't make new orders."

"With all the mess that'll come with it," Ron put in. He closed his eyes. "I can imagine that in a similar position I'd lay out a lot of contingencies. I'm a hunted criminal that can layer commands into people. I can imagine myself saying: If I'm arrested kill yourself. Altering this order so that it's not all at once, leaving people wondering the exact amount of people that would die if I'm not released."

Ron opened his eyes and he recoiled a little. I looked at everyone and I imagined that they had the same expression I had, a disgust at the words, a sinking feeling because that was the most likely thing to be done in those circumstances.

"That limits our options," said Seamus.

"Unless we could get a large enough batch of the Thief's Downfall," said Hermione. "We could gas it over all of Herald's influence."

"That would mean too much money," said Blaise. "More money than we have. Or it would mean deals with the Goblins."

"We're getting side-tracked," I said. I glanced at my watch. "Seven minutes left before he has to make the announcement and we haven't decided if I should undo the spell or let it persist."

"The problem with that is these abilities," said Ron. "I don't know enough about them. Hellscape was able to block us from Disapparating and yet a much simpler spell would be harder?"

"We have to stop thinking in terms of magic," said Hermione. "This isn't magic, as much as it might look like it. There are different rules and part of them might be that they affect different avenues."

"We're over thinking this," said Seamus. "I say we just attack. Sitting here and discussing things means we're just making assumptions. But if we're in there, we can see what they do and react. Forming a better image than with... _this."_

"It is the better play," said Archie. "And with the activity, it might mean Fred and I might be able to work. Use the flash as our cover."

"It also helps our greater objective," Freddie put in. I held up a hand before he could continue. Jay and Elsa weren't in the tent with us, not being combatants or planners, but that didn't mean one of them wouldn't be listening in.

I moved my wand and fire was spat out, leaving words in the air: _Jay._

He nodded and didn't continue. But then, we all understood what he meant. All we had now was a log, but that was entirely different from knowing how they used them, what we had to expect and the countermeasures we had to come up with.

"That still doesn't go over the obvious hurdle," said Ron. "The major problem which is taking a gamble. Do we gamble with people's lives? I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't think I could live myself if I made the _wrong_ decision."

"A vote might be expedient," said Blaise. "A secret ballot because I can't help but think that some of us might be afraid of being judged if our decision was known." He looked down the table and when no one objected. He gave a short nod. Wands were at the ready, prepared to move and conjure the documents, indecisions starting to spread.

What was the right choice in this circumstance?

Herald was dangerous, of that there was no doubt. What made him especially dangerous was his passive power and the _active_ power that was his voice. I'd taken that away from him, making it so that he couldn't give any future commands, or, if he could, then it was at least an inconvenience. But Herald had also put people's lives on the line with this, forcing us into a corner. Forcing us to have to boil people down into numbers.

Blaise was the first to move his wand, a series of smooth motions that conjured a wooden box. The series of movements ended with Blaise pointing his wand towards the box and flicking his wand slightly _up_ to complete the conjuration.

Now that I was here. What would I do? How would I act?

I wanted more than anything to save the greatest number of people, but in saving the greatest number of people, I wanted to save _everyone_. Deciding to undo the spell meant potentially endangering a whole host of future people, but not undoing the spell meant endangering a smaller host of people. They seemed like similar decision except for _scale._

 _Okay,_ I thought. _Okay. You're thinking, but you're not thinking along the right lines. Which decision can you live with at the end of the day if the worst were to happen?_

Looking at both and I couldn't find the right answer. People would have died and that was what mattered.

 _But people are going to die whichever decision you make,_ I thought. _Stop looking at in like that and choose a different direction. One that will mean actually_ making _a decision._

Hermione, Archie and Susan were next, making conjurations that were directed at the box. Much like Blaise, their expression were placid, but then, they had mastered Legilimency and schooling one's expression was part and parcel of that.

 _Which one is more likely, then?_ I asked myself. _Which possibility, assuming that the worst happens in both cases, is most likely?_

If we captured the Enlightened, then future threats wouldn't matter. We'd have him under the Imperius Curse and force him to relinquish the control that he had over people. But could we catch him? The people of this world had chased him and not succeeded. Unlike with other villains, it wasn't a game where Herald was concerned, they were out for him. Did I think that I could do what they couldn't?

I let out a sigh, glancing at my watch. There were only three minutes and eleven seconds before Herald was set to make his announcement.

I trusted my team. I trusted that each of us were the best in our areas and we would give the Enlightened a run for their money, but I couldn't help but be realistic. Even with our abilities, Herald might just run and then he would be able to act in the future but he'd know more about us, invest more in taking away our advantages. It was better if we started this in a position of power.

I started moving my wand: Starting in a squiggly line that stretched upwards, a circle that started covering the entire thing before stopping and becoming a short, sharp, upward flick.

With that final movement, my paper had been conjured, and I was against undoing the spell.

Everyone else cast their votes and Blaise started reading them out.

"Two abstained," he said. "Three for undoing, and five against. We're not going to undo the spell."

My stomach plunged a little, because though it had seemed perfectly rational, it was something else to find out that we were pulling through with it.

"Give us a rundown," said Ron. "As brief as you can make it so that I can form a rough image in my head of how we'll move forward."

I nodded. "I first have to note that a majority of the people in the Kingdoms and Europe fight through cloak and dagger. They use their abilities in ways that make it seem like they have one ability when they might have another. And above all, they're all paranoid. Not telling people what their abilities is until they really trust them."

"To the point, Potter," said Terry. "We still have a time limit. Even if we can fix the damage, we don't know the level of exotic effects they have that might have bad interactions with magic."

I gave him a short nod. "It all comes together in that you can't trust what I'm saying," I said. "At the end of it, prod them to see how their abilities really work because what I know might be an act."

I looked at them all, trying to see if the depth of those words had sunk in but I couldn't see it. There were too many faces hidden behind the implacability of Occlumency. I chose to move forward, ignoring that they might not be taking this seriously enough.

"Right. The Suits first since we'll be dealing with them," I said. "The Spades are a halfway point between the Hearts and the Clubs. They've got muscle and they're _smart,_ which makes them a threat on their own level. There are currently two on the Spade's roster: The King and Queen of Spades. The King's durable and strong, and this is stronger in conjunction with his Apparition ability. The videos I've watched, he usually switches himself into a group and blitzes them.

"Then there's the Queen and she's strong and...She's a brute-shaker," I said. Because it was starting to get easy at this point thinking in the categories. "Strong and nimble, carries a sledgehammers that she uses like we uses a wand. She also has the ability to warp her surroundings though she doesn't favour this, instead opting at hitting people."

"Those are the ones we'll be fighting," said Ron. He was frowning, looking slightly far off. "I'd like that we already start setting up countermeasures, but I have this pit in my stomach that if we close things off too quickly Herald might escalate."

"Even so it's something to invest in," said Hermione. She was looking at Andrew as she said, "A mobile Anti-Disapparition Hex that's cast to respond after an Apparition attempt, It'll mean someone is switched out but-"

Ron held out a hand, stopping Hermione. "We're getting a little ahead of ourselves," he said. "Blaise, head over to the Prime Minister's office and talk to their thinkers. I know they gave us permission, but I'd like it if they knew that bad things were going to start happening in Belfast. It might be better if law enforcements didn't get in our way too, at least officially. This is Herald pretty much outing Harry as Gwydion and people might panic."

Blaise gave a short nod and then stood, leaving the tent. There wasn't even pop as he left.

I glance at my watch and it our time was up. Herald would be acting one way or another, and there would be trouble.

"Harry, Susan and Seamus will be on the ground," said Ron. "Freddie, Archie, Elsa and I will be in a place with _internet_ so that we can learn more about the people we'll be fighting. I want Hermione, Andrew and Teddy here, working on enchanted objects that might be able to help us. Before you leave you'll have to enchant quick surveillance so we know what's happening. Go flashy, but nothing Harry's never used before. I don't want this escalating before we have a plan.

"Everyone to their places," he said and we collectively moved.

888

It was exceptionally hard to tell if the broadcast had gone through or not because everything was exceedingly normal. We'd appeared on the roof of a high-rise building that was a few blocks away from the Suits' headquarters, with how tall the building was and our enhanced senses it offered us a view of our target building. Looking, no one was panicking, for that matter, everyone continued as though nothing had happened.

My stomach sunk, especially with the part I'd played in things. Had I made the wrong decision? If I did what could I do? If I was forced to make a choice like this in the future could I do things differently? Was there a way to do things differently when it was human lives on the line?

I took a deep breath and imagined my emotions as a sea storm, dark clouds floating overhead and flashing with electricity. I started with the clouds, making them ease, lightening their dark cast until I broke them, letting the sun shine through. Next was the ocean, easing it until there wasn't any motion and when I came to myself I felt a little calmer, with the emotions being a little distance _away._

"You're really terrible at Occlumency," Susan said at my side. All three of us were wearing muggle-esque uniforms, fortified with muggle science and magic. Above all, they looked _good,_ they reminded me of Makhai's costume except without all the colour.

Susan's was different from ours in that there was a bulge at the back, the arms of her octopus, though the name was wrong. It was a creature of conjuration, with arms that were over a dozen in number and spread over with eyes. The thing was really creepy, but when I'd commented on that all of the eyes had glared in my direction and that was something I didn't want to ever happen again.

"How long did I take?" I said.

"Ten minutes," said Seamus. "And nothing has happened in all that time. Have to wonder if they're waiting for _us_ to make the first move."

"Then let's act," I said. I flicked my wrist and my wand fell into my hand. I ran it over my body and it started to change, the colours moving from black to red and gold, the Gryffindor motif appearing on my chest; I conjured a mane-like lapel that moved to a non-existent wind. The fingertips of my glove started warping, getting sharper and changing a darker hue than the rest of the costume.

When it was done, Seamus was grinning at me while Susan was just shaking her head. "You are _such_ Gryffindors," she said as Seamus started running his wand over his person. He too chose red and gold, though his was dull; the motif on his chest was off the sun that was letting off threads of ribbons coming from the ball, detaching and more forming.

"Solar Wind," said Seamus. "I chose Solar Wind. You're the only one who doesn't have a flamboyant name, Susan."

"Do we even need names?" said Susan. "They'll see our faces."

"But they won't know who we are," said Seamus. "Come on. Be a little fun."

Susan let out a sigh before she before she jabbed her wand at her back and the octopus reacted: Its arms stretching up and around Susan, moving as though they were living hairs with eyes looking in every direction. It started shifting through colours, all of them dark and ominous, reminiscent of poisons.

"Fuck," said Seamus and I hummed.

"You could be a little lighter," I said. "More fun with it."

"I'm a Spook," said Susan. "I don't do fun. I do pants shittingly terrifying."

"Noted," I said. "Let's get moving, then." One of Susan's arms lashed out, wrapping around and arm and _clinging_ onto it. The thing was cold and wet, and it made wet sounds as it moved a little. I felt shivers run up and down my spine.

Seamus took my left arm. I turned on the spot and appeared on the neighbouring building to the Suits' HQ. It was a bit shorter and on the top floor, I could see the Queen of Spades, standing at the centre, her sledgehammer held over her shoulder.

"People inside the building," I said. "With the way they are ambling I think they may just be working."

"Anyone freaked out by that?" said Susan. "There has to be something up with that. Maybe one of their abilities?"

"Could be," I said. "Let's focus on this. The King is in there which means-" The scenery shifted and I was on the ground, surrounded by _Evans._

I reacted as quickly as I could, pulling up a shield as salvo spherical orange shields flew at me. A shield formed and caught the balls before they could hit me. It wasn't my strongest shield, but there wasn't as much damage as I expected from what I knew. But then that wasn't important.

 _Herald had broken the rules._

Their attacks weren't strong, but they made this up with the numbers they had. There were ten Evans in the apartment and all of them were lobbing a few spherical shields at me. Some of them slammed into the other and popped, but more hit my shield and the sheer number was beginning to break it down.

Escaping would be easy, but then, I could get the advantage here. I looked around and turned on the spot, appearing on the other side of the apartment behind a sofa. The moment I did, my shield activated, the sofa pounced on me. I flicked my wand and the sofa was sent hurtling back towards the clones. I managed to catch three with the sofa, four of them cobbling together a shield large enough to block the sofa, while the remaining three dodged with their flight.

I slashed and a jet of purple light flew through the air, wide and crackling as it moved. Three Evans and they tried to block the curse with too small shields. It didn't work and they were hit, slamming into the ground, none of the three moving to get up.

Another inconsistency. I'd seen Evan pull up a large shield and strong shield, yet they were having trouble blocking a measly curse and a _sofa?_ It didn't make sense. But I didn't have to think about it.

The automatic shield activated as I was flooded by more spheres. I turned and appeared at their left, behind the kitchenette, running my wand through an Imperius Curse. They reacted and then cobbled together a shield, layered to block my curse; the curse cleaved all of three shields and hit one of the clones as one of them hovered into the air in an effort to dodge.

"Attack them," I said and my clone reacted. Throwing a sphere at the Evans that were still on the ground, breathing erratically from the sofa slamming into them. The sphere hit each clone in the chest and they stopped breathing. My Evan tried to attack the others but there were already spheres being lobbed at it; I jerked my wand and a shield materialised in front of it, fielding the attacks as my clone moved out of the way, getting distance while getting closer to me.

My shield was starting to disappear. The spheres being lobbed were now as large a human head and they were more powerful.

A curse hit the clone in the back before it could get too close. I couldn't take the chance that this was all an act to get my guard down. I didn't know how mental connections stretched between clones and there was the chance that my Imperius Curse hadn't worked. I'd need to at least catch one of them so I could be studied.

I tapped the kitchenette and it was wrenched off it's fixture and sent into the air at the clones. They cobbled shields together, but now they were bigger and their orange colour more vivid. When the kitchenette hit, it bounced off and hurtled towards me again. I turned and appeared next to the fallen clone, grabbed its arm and then turned, appearing in our enchanted grounds.

 _Homenum Revelio._

There were three people in the Common Tent. I started dragging Evan along before I stopped. They had Big Brother working with them and wouldn't it all be part of the plan if this was all part of a surveillance type thing. Instead of dragging him along I muttered a spell under my breath and a black smoke erupted out of my wand and clung itself around Evan. I didn't know if it would work, which was why I conjured a large sheet to cover him, then enchanted it so sound wouldn't be able to filter through.

I sent out a Patronus and then turned on the spot, appearing in Belfast. It would detail what I wanted to happen and they could take care of that while I dealt with things here. Susan and Seamus didn't know this world like I did and they might be caught off guard.

I pointed my wand skyward and sent off a red flare. It wasn't much longer that I saw a blue flare sent out four blocks away. I turned on the spot and appeared. The flare had been from Susan, she was fighting Merlin and para in a suit of armour I didn't know.

Susan jumped out of the way as a salvo of lasers flew in her direction. She pointed and the arms of her octopus struck forward, going for the unknown para. But Merlin moved forward, flicking a hand and forming a light sword; she struck it forward and the thing slid through the octopus' arms. Merlin spun and then pointed but Susan was expecting this, flicking her wand and calling up a shield.

The shield disappeared at three hits from Merlin's projectiles.

I turned on the spot and appeared in their midst, striking. Merlin spun and brought an arm forward: A shimmering shield appeared but the curse cleaved through and struck her arm, blowing it apart. I'd forgotten, Merlin was largely inanimate, which meant, to the spell, she was more object than person.

She pointed her arm in my direction and I turned only to stumble as I slammed into the wall where the tube should be. My shield activated but it quickly broke before I could get out of the way; I caught a flash of light to my left and ducked low, out of the way of a spinning projectile.

I waved my wand but the para jumped out of the way, only to be hit by a spell from Susan. She spun through the air, slammed into the side of a building and then crashed into the ground.

"No," said Merlin, emotion filling her voice. Her left arm popped open at the wrist and a white fog fell out, rapidly growing larger and larger. It was too quick, spreading out through the street and engulfing everything. I had just enough time to call forth a Bubble Head before the fog was over me.

 _Homenum Revelio._

I could track the field, using past knowledge to get an image. Nandi was to my left, but she was steadily moving, trying to get closer to Susan but it was slow. Merlin was in the air, jerking in the air at times. Susan would react to that, moving on the ground to dodge.

I focused on Nandi.

 _Partis Temporus._

The fog parted, leaving a path towards Nandi. Three curses flew in the direction and only for the suit to pop off, flying into the spell bolts and then at me. I called up a shield and the suit hit and the detonated: My shield was destroyed and I was thrown off my feet, sent slamming into the ground.

It didn't hurt as much as it should have, the costume filled with too many countermeasures, but it was disorientating. I shook my head a little and then almost threw up because the world tilted, the buildings become soup and then shrinking. The world became a kaleidoscope of colour, blending one into the other and forming fantastical creatures. The slight disorientation disappeared under the spectacle of it all.

One of the creatures moved towards me, it was tall and with tentacles for legs and more for arms. It changed colours, reds and oranges and purples, forming eyes that all looked in my direction before the arms came at me. I should have panicked but it was hard to feel anything except _awe._

One of the tentacles bit around me, carrying me up and then pushing me out of the way at the explosions of colour that would fly at me. The tentacle creature and kept moving, getting between me and another creature, fat and blue and white and red and green and yellow; the changing creature had a light hand that ran through the air, leaving trails of itself as it moved.

Then there was another light, this one a wall that stopped the light hand only to blow apart into trails of smaller bits of lights that turned to butterfly creatures that turned into caterpillars flying through the air before they disappeared.

The creature with the light hand flew towards me but I was swept away, surrounded by darkness before I was spat out into another, smaller world filled with more colours and creatures, all of them moving towards me.

"I think he's high," said one of the creatures, and the words spread out, rippling and then warping into images. I could _see_ the words written in the sky, how they moved at the creatures and then burrowed into the other creatures.

"I can feel it too...but my conjuration is syphoning it out before it can affect me," said the creature with the many arms.

"I'll get started on undoing that," said another creature, this one with a head of hair that stretched out to cover the creature. The wind would shift and it would reveal a little of what the creature looked like beneath: deathly pale, thick and squat, two arms that drooped at either of its side until they reached the ground.

The creature had a massive stick and it pointed at me and then everything went dark.

888

My skin was itchy, the low light too bright and my stomach just wouldn't settle. But I was alright. Whatever drug had been through my system was out now, and the world was no longer an acid trip.

"Okay," said Ron. He was standing whereas the rest of us were sitting, looking at him. He'd been pacing about a moment before.

I turned to look at everyone, momentarily feeling the wash of the drug that had run through me, how everything became _less_ and _more_ vivid at the same time. The colours became different, starker and sharpers, and I could _see_ how air particles smacked one into the other as Ron moved. I took a long breath and the _focused,_ pulling myself out so that my senses could be dulled.

"I was wrong," Ron said, and he words spilled out of his mouth, stretching out, splitting and going towards everyone. I steadily ignored them. "About the estimate that I had of Herald before, about the level we're playing at. I was afraid that we might accidentally escalate things but we've already done it."

He paced a lot more before he stopped. "He models himself against the Simurgh," Ron said. "One of the Endbringers and this world's greatest thinker. It's been too quick, the reading, but boiled down, the Simurgh is a master of cause and effect. We're going to be fighting a lite version of her. A version that can't see the future."

"So he's prodding," said Hermione. "What he just did."

Ron nodded. "He split you apart and then exposed you to different threats," he said. "Harry and ranged combat, Seamus and close combat and Susan with a mixture of both. He's trying to learn the abilities we've brought to bear because, and I think, when he fought Harry and I, he saw that our abilities are a lot _more_ than he could have predicted."

Ron's expression stretched into a grin, teeth showing and then becoming sharp; his eyes became sharper, the blue changing to red and a devilish gleam coming from them. I blinked and the image was gone.

"He's unsure of himself," Ron said.

"An enemy that isn't sure in their ability is the most dangerous," said Archie. "They're more willing to lash out."

"We know this and we can expect it," said Ron. "I feel like he might push up the hour deadline between attacks, but we'll let him tire himself out as we regroup. Right now we need to make sure that, if he lashes out, the damage he causes will be minimal."

He gestured to Hermione.

"Taking out the human element," she said. Her front teeth stretched out of her mouth, elongating and the twisting, biting into the table and then breaking off. They warped into little teeth people, twenty or thirty and the little teeth people scattered, moving too fast and then-

"Protego!" it was instinctive, blocking as the teeth people jumped at me. The teeth people flew through my shield, getting bigger as they came closer and closer-before the image disappeared.

Everyone was looking at me.

"Okay," said Terry. "I think it wasn't enough. Harry. You mind coming with me? Whatever Bliss got into you is still in your system."

I nodded and then followed him out of the tent into his own tent. It was larger on the inside than it was out, but this was par for the course I knew. What wasn't, was the massive hole at the top of the tent. I watched as smoke flew up from cauldrons, spiralling up towards the hole at the top.

Terry sighed and then took my hand, pulling me towards a space in the tent. He sat me on a chair and then pointed his wand in my eyes, sending in a shaft of light.

"Yep," he said. "You're still high. I thought summoning the stuff out of you might be the way to go about it, but it wasn't." He summoned a vial with a clear liquid before jabbing my finger, and letting a bead of blood to spill out; he moved the vial under it. The moment my blood dripped, the liquid changed into a miasma of colours, all of which flowed out of the vial and started putting pictures in the air.

Each time I moved it would disturb the miasma, pushing the image into another configuration. I took a breath and blew out, watched as the swirl of colours spread out.

 **SNAP**

I couldn't hear the sound, but I turned towards Terry's finger.

"Do you know that I can't hear you?" I said. "That I can see words?"

 **Is that true?** The words wrong themselves out, spilling from his mouth. I watched as they rippled, bouncing on walls and then bouncing back.

"It's true," I said. "But I can't discern tone. It's...frustrating."

 **Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Well, hang on. It should be an easy fix.**

He flicked his wand and summoned a few more vials, directing blood with had been pooling in mid-air. In each case the liquids would change colour and the words would appear, flooding the room. The colour started to warp again, and they were steadily getting worse.

"It's getting worse," I said. "Very worse."

"Accio drug," Terry said absently and I felt the pain against as I was forced to _sweat,_ small bits of moisture being pulled out of my skin. "This thing keeps growing," he said. "I'm not sure _how_ but it leaves traces of itself that magic can't hope but summon. It's really interesting work."

He started moving various vials through the place and dropping my blood into them. It would change colour and he would tap them, and then call more liquids and then mix them and then drop my blood into the vial again. The colours in the vials continued to change while the world around me continued to get exotic until Terry summoned more of the drug out of me.

"How long have we been here?" I asked.

"You have a watch," said Terry. He tapped a vial and then moved to a corner, beginning to work on a few ingredients, throwing them into cauldron and then having the thing bubbling along.

"Right. Right," I said. I pulled out my watch and took a glance at it but the numbers were moving. "I can't read this."

"An hour's almost passed," said Terry. "The others should have a plan at least partially done by now."

"How are things in Belfast?" I asked.

Terry shrugged and his arm turned to liquid, stretching up and swirling towards the hole in the tent; the point connecting to Terry split off, a gob in the sky that shrunk into itself and then formed a ball of flesh that just floated there.

The ball grew a mole-like protrusion, steadily getting larger until it was an _eye._ The eye blinked, looking at me before it changed colour, turning red. The ball of flesh started stretching out, growing larger, getting paler; it grew a nose, but it wasn't a nose, just slits. I knew where this was going and I blinked, trying to force it out of mind.

I fumbled and found my wand, pointing it at myself.

"Accio," I said. Terry looked in my direction at that, his wand pointing; it was automatic, a flick that formed a wall of light that burst the fiery bolt like coming at me. "You're trying to jinx me," I said.

"I'm trying to take your wands," said Terry. "Expecto Patronum." Light coalesced into a shifting mass I couldn't quite tell before it started flying away, leaving wispy trails of blue. I watched them until they disappeared, remembering that I was mad at Terry.

I looked to my wand for warmth, but it was gone. I looked to Terry.

"You're spacing off," said Terry. "I managed to just take it. I think that might be what this is for, making the lot of you make mistakes over a large period of time. But you got the drug in your system in a very large dose and unlike Susan, you don't have a conjuration connected to your spine, its tentacles spreading into your nervous system."

"Is that what it's doing?" I said, but it was disinterested.

"It is," said Terry. "Masterful transfiguration. Makes me wish that I'd chosen the craft to specialise in, instead I had to go with Potions." He looked at me. "There's nothing revolutionary in potions, Harry. I mean, they're great because everyone can do them, but they're not revolutionary. Transfigurations and Charms are, though."

I nodded absently at that, watching as a goat walked into the room and then promptly fell over; its stomach ripped open as tentacular protrusions forced themselves out, carrying a stone-like mass towards me.

The image disappeared and Terry was standing in front of me with a Bezoar in his hand.

"Don't like giving you this," he said. "But I think I have enough blood to work at a real potions that'll counter the effects. Here. Swallow."

I did and then everything returned to normal. I let out a breath.

"If you see anything weird though," Terry said. "I suggest you come back. Now go, the others are about done with their plans."

I nodded and then ambled along to the Common Tent to see that even Freddie and Archie had donned their armour.

"What's the plan?" I asked. "Broad strokes?"

"We're going to put Belfast to sleep," said Ron wearing a grin so stretched that for a moment I thought the drug was still running through my system.

888

This was more likely to cause a panic, but it was needed here and now. The game had been uneven against our side from the start, but now it was time to rectify that. Of course there might be countermeasures against this, but often times the most delicate of countermeasures could be taken down by brute force.

Three birds were in my hands: A sparrow, a mocking jay and a crow. All three had different enchantments running through them, created in to be as balanced as possible with how fast the enchantments had had to be cobbled together. Seamus hadn't like it and neither had Andrew for that matter, but both were perfectionists in their own respects; Seamus because the Gemini Curse was his bread and butter, and Andrew because he was smart enough to get it _right._

 _"Time,"_ Seamus' voice sounded and I threw. The three birds came alive in the moment and flapped. I pulled my broom up so as to get distance and it wasn't too soon, an explosion detonated and the birds multiplied; as I looked, there were three other points where the same had happened, birds flooding into the sky and _descending._

It would be terrifying. It would be escalation, but it had a purpose.

The sparrow were the flash, they multiplied more than the others, hiding them, while the mocking jay and crows were the protected cargo. They had the spells to pull this together.

The sky was a mass of birds as I watched, all of the silent except for the sound of thousands of flapping wings. Then, a swathe of birds disappeared, revealing a building with a large sphere floating above it. That would be the countermeasure, and as other swathes of birds were disappearing there were more of those things.

I flew lower and then moved my wand, trying to vanish the drone but the spell didn't take, instead there was a flash of light as my spell met an almost invisible barrier. An Imperius Curse sent in the direction and the barrier burst apart. I vanished the drone again and this time the attempt worked.

This entire thing was about prodding, trying to get at our capabilities and _here_ they'd underestimated the power of the Unforgivable Curses, thinking we'd have to labour through defeating their barriers.

I flew back into the air and watched where the swathe of birds were disappearing and focused on my sight to see if there were any people fighting: Seamus was off his broom, on a rooftop and calling fire forth. He was fighting a salvo of Evans, twelve in all and all of them throwing tennis ball sized spheres. Seamus was expert in how he moved, pulling up a shield, conjuring a flurry of fire birds and then having then extinguished as the clones quickly moved to snuff the birds out. But this was par with the course as he fired off a salvo of spells that started weeding down their numbers.

A glance to the left and Susan was there, fighting drones that were trying to get at her. Her octopus had more arms, and all of them were working to field back beams of red light that were firing down at her. Each times an arm was cut, it would split, stretching and destroying the drones, the pieces of which were being vanished by Susan.

I spotted an empty patch and a drone in the direction. I pointed my wand downward only to stop as I caught a flash to my right, a stream of fire hurtling towards me. My shield formed but I turned, appearing just a bit up and firing a salvo of beams in the direction of the figure.

Ace. It had to be, even with how much larger her armour was. She flew out of the way, pointing an arm and shooting out more of her liquid fire to keep the flock back. It worked, the birds couldn't really die except if they were vanished, but they were still alive enough that they could feel pain. Ace was setting them on fire and the birds were reacting; cawing loudly and flying in a panic that made it hard for me to see her.

But she wasn't my target. I started flying, getting my distance from her while angling downward. My shield activated when a fiery bird got too close to me and that was all the advantage that Ace needed: She shot pellets in my direction and I called up a shield. The detonation was much larger that it should have been, sending heat barrelling into my shield and causing vivid red lines to grow across the shield. But that had been the _first_ detonation.

There were still three more of the things in the air.

The second detonated and it took out my shield. The third didn't get a chance because I was already a distance up and looking for Ace. I spotted her and white rope stretched out, almost catching her before she flew out of the way, the fires on her back turning blue before she darted forward.

She moved faster than I could track, one moment a metre away from me, the next slamming bodily into my shield. There was a flash of light as my secondary shield broke apart and I pointed my wand. She tried to fly out of the way but she wouldn't be able to move out of the way.

 _Evanesco._

Her armour disappeared and she fell with a surprise yelp. I caught her before she could get too far, cursed her with the Imperius Curse and then enchanted her underclothes into a Port Key which sent her away. I still had a drone to target, and it was easier now that it didn't have a guard. I sent out an Unforgivable and the barriers around the drone shattered. I vanished the drone.

I started pulling up into the air again when the sky suddenly cleared. All the birds and the sound of a thousand feathers fluttering disappearing with it. It was night, I came to notice, or at least late evening, the city was alive with lights but it was dead of movement. I could see the streets for the first time and a myriad of people had lay prone in the streets, some in cars but from what I could see there hadn't been a crash.

Our plan had worked, which meant, if Ron was right, then there were only a small number place that Herald could be and he would be doing his best to make sure we wouldn't go there. As if to punctuate this point, explosions started to detonate throughout the city, flashes of light and then plumes of dark smoke which hid portions of the city lights.

He was forcing us to save people while he sought out the places that we logistically couldn't get. The hospitals and airports.

888

I appeared, already striking my wand towards the fire. The fired died all at once and the smoke was sucked into a point. The ground was starting to shake, nearly making me falling because the building in front of me was _tipping._

"Reparo!" and there was a desperate edge in my voice as my wand moved in a circular motion. All I knew was that the building was damaged enough to be leaning to one side, which meant some of its supports must have been damaged, and even though I didn't know _where_ those supports were damaged, magic didn't care.

The ground still shook, but now the building was righting itself.

In the distance I heard seven more detonations, all of them synchronised and I let out a tired breath. It hadn't even been a minute since we'd gained advantage, but things were going to shit. Every time one of us would fix a building that was starting to topple over, more would detonate and we'd have to move over the city to fix them.

 _"He had an inkling that we'd seek to take away his leverage,"_ Ron said in my ear and I couldn't tell if the excited edge was something I was imagining. _"The only reason we'd do that, above and beyond wanting to save people, is to corner him without recourse. He's forcing that recourse."_

I thought of activating the bud in my ear and said, "So what do we do now?" I said. "The plan."

 _"Still on course all going well,"_ said Seamus. He grunted and then screamed. " _Assistance required,"_ he said and then a red flared detonated in the night's sky. _"Queen of Spades has me locked in my shield and she's blocking my Apparition."_

I turned on the spot, appearing on the rooftop and then started flying in the direction. I was still cloaked, but I wouldn't be surprised if she could see me. Stealth arrays seemed to mean nothing against our current combatants. It wasn't too long before I saw them, Seamus was surrounded by a barrier made of shimmering light, jagged points growing out of the ground and keeping Seamus' bubble from being able to move.

Most likely more of the jagged points would grow if the shield disappeared and so it nulled danger by not flickering.

Pointing my broom lower, I started flying down, angling so that I was behind the Queen of Spades. If she _couldn't_ see me, then I couldn't take the chance that she was as observant as Makhai and that she might notice me flying. When I was close enough, I fired an Imperius Curse and immediately the Queen of Spades danced out of the way, swinging her sledgehammer and then _throwing_ it at me.

I formed a shield while jumping out of the side, firing a salvo of Imperius Curses. She jumped and landed on the ground, the ground warping and forming a wall that blocked my spell. I was about to fire another salvo, opting for higher ground when her sledgehammer slammed into the side; it didn't hurt as much as it should have, but the impact was enough to push me off balance and force me off my broom.

As I fell I saw Seamus acting, jabbing his wand forward and then quickly down; the jagged spikes fell, melting into the ground and Seamus landed jerkily on his feet, falling back and then tumbling out of the way as small spike formed under him.

He screamed a word I couldn't hear and fire shot out of his wand in a large plume. He was shot up and further back, enough distance that the spikes were no longer forming. Either it was out of the Queen's ranger or—no, she'd chosen instead to devote her attacks to me who was still falling.

I flicked my wand and the sledgehammer that had been flying at me again vanished; another flick and my broom found my hand before I could hit the ground. I mounted and the pulled, flying parallel to the ground and then up, firing a salvo of spells that forced the Queen of Spades on the defensive. She ducked low and punched the ground, calling forth another wall, but this time it didn't cover her completely, instead leaving space for her to retreat towards a building.

Seamus didn't call forth his birds, instead he ran his wand in a quick circle and a white, dense mist spilled out, covering the ground and steadily moving towards the Queen of Spades. I made sure to move out from above the mist, firing an unending salvo of spells that didn't allow her to move. But she continued to defend, forming and fixing her shields as they fell under the might of the Imperius Curse.

A light flared in the distance, not an explosion inside a building, but one _out;_ with my senses slightly enhanced, I could hear as glass shattered, saw as fire flared per floor moving _up._ The detonations ended with the roof of the erupting out and sending a thick plume of glowing fog over the city. Another of Bliss' drugs.

In the small space of a second, the Queen of Spade was gone, and in her place was the King of Spades and he seemed confused. The events became clear to me. The distraction of the building had worked on Seamus and me, it hadn't been large enough that she would have been able to escape, but it had been enough to disable whatever device allowed her to stop us from Apparating. That had allowed the King of Spades to switch her out, but they hadn't expected that we'd have countermeasures.

Seamus waved his wand and there were suddenly a dozen ravens flying at—

Me.

I took a second to realise that I had been switched out, and that I'd lost another broom, before I started firing just low of where I'd been. Seamus was suddenly there and he called forth another propulsion of fire to keep himself from being hit by my curses. I looked at where at Seamus had been and the King of Spades was already on me, a clawed hand already moving to strike.

I stumbled back and called forth a shield; he hit and red lines drew themselves out on the shield, growing larger by the millisecond. I jabbed forward and the King danced to the side and then took a step back as Seamus' birds started diving at him. The birds quickly course corrected, about to slam into him, before I was there. The birds couldn't get out of the way fast enough and three slammed at me, turning into metal at the spot where they hit.

It _hurt,_ sign enough that the spells on my armour were starting to fray. Most of the birds flew out, now seeking their target. Seamus was trying to fire his curses at the King but the man was nimble, ducking low and the jumping to dodge the spells; when a bird got too close he scratched it, ducking back as the pair now tried to get at him. He got into the mist and then Seamus was there and he was falling into the sky.

"Imperio!" the spell flew true and the hit _me. Sectumsempra!_ I said, irritated. This time there was no time to dodge, a vicious line drew itself across his scaled chest and red blood began spilling out. The man looked _shocked_ as he looked at me, stumbling back and working desperately to staunch the bleeding.

Seamus appeared with a crack and he finished the King off with the Imperius Curse. He looked down at the King who was still bleeding, his breathing become more erratic by the second.

"Please tell me you know the counter spell," he said. I nodded, getting closer and preparing. "You're no longer under Herald's power," said Seamus, and with that, I began singing.

When the song ended the line had healed though there was a nasty looking scar. There was a lot more behind the counter spell and I didn't know all of it, just going along on incantation and wand movement alone. But he wasn't dead and this was enough for this purpose. Unfortunately, the King of Spades was out of it.

"I'll take him back," said Seamus. "Blood Replenishing potion and an Invigoration Draught will bring him back. We might be able to question him."

"It might be the same as the Evan clone and Ace," I said. "Herald's proved he's very good a compartmentalising his plans."

Seamus shrugged. "It might be worth a try," he said. He took hold of the King of Spades, and after shooting off a spell, disappeared with a soft pop.

I looked up. The glowing gas had speared further up into the sky and now it was starting to spread, forming glowing clouds which were spreading over the entire city.

"Ron. You seeing the sky?" I said.

 _"Yeah,"_ he said. _"Hermione's already in the sky. She should be-"_

There was a burst of light and the clouds started disappearing, being eaten by a spell I didn't know. The cloud hadn't fully managed to cover the sky before it disappeared into nothing.

 _"He didn't succeed,"_ said Ron. _"Prepare for something larger to happen. He's still prodding, but this time he doesn't have the time to be delicate. He's pushing all of his major plans into effect. I don't know how many we have, but ranging on how large this will be, it might be his last."_

That scared me. Herald had been trying to destroy buildings. I had to wonder what was beyond _that._

The world answered through the ground shaking. I summoned my broom and got higher ground. My stomach dropped a little before a smile touched my face.

 _"Merlin's balls,"_ Susan said. I might have reacted the same way, it was _awesome_ to watch as a forty storey building starting to warp, the bulges of arms starting to show as the building tried to rip itself out from the ground.

I turned on the spot before the process could finish, pointed my wand and said, "Finite Incantatem."

The process stopped.

The building settled.

We'd won. Whatever he could bring to bear, we could reverse it in some way. He tried flood the city with gas or drones, we could vanish them; he tried to destroy buildings, we could fix them; he tried to make buildings come alive, and we could undo that too.

Magic was much larger than their abilities. It was less constrained and thus it was a lot more versatile. We'd won the planning phase of this, and undoubtedly we had Herald on the run. Now it was time to bring it all together.

888

"This might be more to him than it is to us," said Ron. He wasn't looking at me, but then again he wasn't talking _just_ to me, but to everyone else. He and I were in the air on our brooms, hidden under stealth arrays though that would most likely not mean much with the previous iterations of the fight.

"He's _devout,"_ Ron continued. "Which means this is about serving his gods, seeing what they would want and not disappointing them. I've read what I can about the Endbringers and things are usually more drawn out than this, a simmering sort of chaos that suddenly _culminates_ in an Endbringer's appearance.

"Herald doesn't have that. He can't have that 'cause in each of our fights we've taken something from him even if they may not mean much in the grand scheme. The Evan clone, the fire tinker, the King of Spades," my captures, with a little help here and there, "the Martha girl and Ten of Hearts." Susan on that one.

"If he tries to push this out anymore he stands to lose more, which means he _has_ to get more people under him so that, even if he runs, there's a chaos that he's already _inlaid._ Which is why he's fallen into our trap."

There were only so many places that they could go if they wanted people that hadn't fallen asleep, people that could be taken under Herald's effect, and those were the airports and hospitals. We hadn't had a lot of time to plan things through, _create_ the right sort of devices and thus things had been rushed as far as they could without things going awry. The birds had been threefold: Cover and capture birds geared towards paras; momentum dulling birds that would slam into anything moving and _stop_ it; and finally the birds that would put anyone they slammed into to sleep.

Even with the interruptions we'd gotten all of Belfast and the surrounding suburbs, ensuring that Herald couldn't activate whatever phrase he had and then force a mass suicide. But in that, we'd had to restrict ourselves to the people we could force to go to sleep. We'd been planning to put the entire city to sleep through a potion before Elsa had asked people who might be having surgeries done on them while we did this, or the people that told planes where to go so they wouldn't crash into each other.

That had forced those places to be off limits, but Ron had acted, sending some in our number to put up spells to keep the people within _in,_ and ensure that we'd be able to detect anyone that _could_ leave and enter as they could.

"But it's unlikely this will be easy," said Ron. "He still has, metaphorically speaking, pawns at play. He'll likely have them out to distract us where his _big_ manoeuvres couldn't. He'll be banking on the fact that we haven't killed, only captured, while he'll work in the background. Which means we'll need to be vigilant. If we spot him then—"

 _"Three Evans spotted,"_ Susan interrupted. _"But great speech."_

Susan would be with Freddie, Seamus with Blaise and Ron with me. Hermione hadn't wanted to be in the midst of a fight when there were highly trained people who could do it, Terry had said he wasn't much of a fighter anymore and Andrew wasn't a fighter at all. But they were our own 'tinkers' as much as such a thing could apply to us, and they were a commodity we couldn't let into the field.

 _"Yeah, mate,"_ said Seamus. _"Good one and I think they're collectively moving. David and the Queen of Spades are here."_ He let out a low chuckle. _"I'm going to_ enjoy _showing her up this time."_

"They're spreading us out," Ron muttered. "Attacking different places because they think we're limited in number. They only know that there are four of us. Which means he'll likely have his people spread out in that configuration, attacking five places and while we fight, quietly doing his work."

There was a whip of wind and Ron and I looked up to see a woman in a white, skin-tight costume descending. I'd been too lost in thought, a little on the tired side that I hadn't noticed her, hadn't thought to track someone flying through the Human Revealment Charm.

"You talk too much," she said and then she raked her hand forward. I tried turning to appear further up but I almost tipped off my broom as I hit the tube. I was lucky that I was close enough to Ron that I could be hidden by his shield as the wind hit, forming gouges on the shied.

I pointed and fired, the woman dodged before the spell could even pass the threshold of the now disappeared shield, sending forward stream of wind. I managed to pull out of the way before Ron's shield could form and fired a salvo of spells in her direction, they broke as she formed an air shield around herself.

Ron twirling his wand and the woman dropped out of the air, only to catch herself as she fell beyond the region in which Ron had vanished the air. She pointed a hand at Ron as I fired spells in her direction, they broke before they could hit her and my still my thoughts didn't connect until the column of air slammed into me, pitching me back and sending me spinning through the air.

 _She doesn't need to point her hands. That's all for show._

I didn't get very fair before my momentum stalled and I looked up, the woman was keeping her distance from Ron who was chasing after her; she would drop out of the air at times when the air around her was vanished.

She abandoned her attempts to try and attack Ron and instead came at me, hitting me with another column of air and almost sending me out of my broom before I caught myself doing as Ron was, vanishing large amounts of air and quickly following that up with curses. Between Ron and I, we finally caught her with the Imperius Curse.

"Where's Herald?" Ron asked.

"Below," the woman said. "Hellscape is hiding him as he gets to work. Hellscape's ability mean that he can sense your spells. We knew you would be in the area and when I sensed you, he told me to keep you away long enough that he'll have commands seeded."

"Who's with him?" I asked, my wand at my throat.

"Hellscape and Gorger."

"The others?" Ron asked. "The tinkers and the Knave of Hearts?"

"They had another assignment," said Dogoba. "I wasn't told what in case I was captured."

"That's a scary thought," I said. "Tinkers, off on their own, working on a long term plan?"

"Not now," Ron said, his voice low. "Hellscape's ability?"

"I don't know," she said. "Hellscape's the most variable cape that we have. Herald didn't want his ability know and countered. And since I was reasonably new, he didn't want to take the chance that I might let something slip."

"Gorger?" said Ron.

"She lives in a mirror world," Dogoba said. "She can shift things in and out, but it takes her a long time, and whatever she's switching in has to not move. It's replaced on this side by mirror version."

"Not glass teleportation, then," I murmured. "I think that should be enough. We should send her away. The spell..." Might break. No one in this world knew that the Imperius Curse could be fought, which worked for us, but they would instinctively be fighting, we couldn't take the chance that the spell might slip at the worst of opportunities.

Ron nodded and then tapped Dogoba's clothes. She disappeared with a burst of blue light.

He and I pointed our wands downward and started descending. I felt out with the Human Revealment Charm, making my glasses dark to double check and I spotted a large area where my Charm couldn't pierce. I pointed and we moved in the direction. We were lucky that the airport was made in a building of large open spaces and many windows, but now that I thought about, that was probably why they'd come here in the first place, _reflections_. 

The area they'd chosen was largely was the most obvious, the airport control, a building taller than the rest of the airport and looking out towards the large flat plane with the various tarmacs. What I could see from inside was a world without colour, the people within cowering as a burly man stood, the only thing within with colour. He wore a white vest, and a plastic white apron with blood smeared across it; in his right hand was a butcher's knife and in his left, there was a severed head, black and white, except the blood which was a vivid red.

Anger tossed in my stomach, bubbling up as I looked at him.

"You'll have to do this one on your on mate," he said. He was looking at the same scene and yet it felt like he didn't have the right sort of emotion. I felt a surge of anger directed and _him,_ and at Hellscape and at everything else. "Herald will be in the airport seeding. This is an obvious diversion—"

I didn't listen to the rest of his explanation because I was already moving forward; a curse left my wand, large and orange, flying faster than my broom. It slammed into the windows and they blew apart, all of the glass flying inward and, directed by me, hurtled towards Hellscape.

His left hand moved, spraying the blood dripping from the severed head into the air and making it form a thin wall that _stopped_ my glass shards. I jumped off my broom while letting it still fly forward; he struck with his knife and my broom was cut in two, the pieces falling to either side of him. I landed in a roll, came to my feet and then fired three different coloured spell bolts.

Everything went black—

"Lumos!" and colour returned. Hellscape was running to the side, aiming to get at a worker; a table was sent rocketing through the air, moving too fast and almost slamming into Hellscape had he not stopped, spun and then threw the head in my direction.

I jerked my wand and then head flew back. I'd thought it was a bomb but it was a distraction, a fountain of blood shout out and flooded towards me. I couldn't get him out of sight. I tried vanishing the blood and it didn't work. The blood fell over me and it was heavy, digging into my eyes and some of it getting into my mouth. Between the momentum and the amount of blood I was forced back, falling on the ground and my shoulder clipping a desk.

With a scream, I struck blindly and the blood was hurled back. I came to my feet to see that Hellscape had succeeded, getting to a man and slitting his throat, blood spurting out of the man in a river.

A Killing Curse left my wand and Hellscape reacted, tossing the man in front of the spell and the waving his knife. I conjured a shield and it appeared in a semi-dome, a light fixture above my head hitting it and bouncing off.

"Sectumsempra!" A line drew itself on Hellscape's, blood starting to pour out before it quickly stopped. He rushed forward at me, jumping on a desk and giving me more to work with: The curse wouldn't kill him, but, I moved my wand and slashed his eyes. He didn't even react, continuing forward and then kicking a computer.

It sailed towards me and I ran to the side, tapping a desk and making it jump towards Hellscape. He leapt off the desk and landed on the pool of blood I'd been in, sliding and then elegantly coming to his feet in the same motion. The desk slammed into the computer, both breaking apart, but when the computer broke, it burst into a flurry of sparks, hitting various equipment and forming fires-fires that were too large too quickly.

The sprinklers went off and _that_ was too much fire too quickly and it wasn't even putting out the fires. Water was starting to flood and there were computers here, _electricity._

"Carpe Retractum!" Whips of white rope shot out, a myriad that moved through the room. Hellscape moved his knife, severing some of them but not all; I got seven people, leaving only four. I jumped on a desk and then tugged. The magic worked and it pulled all of the people towards me, its own sort of Summoning Charm but this one could work on humans.

It was the same moment that the room sparked, blue lines of electricity running through the water and killing the four people who I hadn't been able to get. Another scream and I directed my wand towards a wall; another orange spell flew out, taking the wall. I gestured and the people were whipped in the direction. I pointed, my wand angled downward and a large scale Cushioning Charm directed at them.

 _I should have done that from the begging. But I didn't_ think. _I always don't_ think.

There was still the range and all of it was directed at the man who was standing with the electrified water running through it. I knew that electricity didn't work like that, that it didn't appear blue in water, which meant that was all for effect, showing me the impending doom because the sprinklers were still going and the water was still rising.

"Confringo!"

Hellscape moved unimpeded by the water, running out of the way of the spell and grabbing a table, pulling up and heaving it in my direction. My spell struck the water, into the ground and blew it apart, revealing a room beneath. One motion made the table explode while another broke the roof, disabling the sprinklers.

Hellscape was to my left, _close,_ and he was swinging the butcher's knife. I formed a shield, but again he wasn't directing the knife at me. My table pitched forward as its legs were cut, I started slipping before I jumped, landing on a summoned table and looking in his direction and firing a curse that went through him.

He appeared closer, under my chair and pushed it up, but it spun and I used that motion to jump off, falling towards a desk.

"Piertotum Locomotor!" The desk came alive and jumped into the air, catching me before I could get too much momentum. It landed on more desks and then _pounced_ at Hellscape who struck with his knife at the water; a small splash turning bigger and hiding him from view.

He would move. I pointed my wand and more desks, making them come alive and starting to move them for him from my vantage. He swung and cleaved through a desk, kicking one desk at an another and then he looked at my direction. He didn't have eyes but I knew that he was angry.

"That's right, you beast, be _angry,_ be _pissed_ because I am, and I'm going to show you the worst sort of pain," I said, meaning it.

The water was now starting to reach the top of the desk I was standing on, at about Hellscape's waist. He slapped both hands onto the water and a wave formed, surging towards me.

"Partis Temporus!" I intoned and it worked, cleaving the water in twain and revealing Hellscape who was _running,_ heading towards the opening I had hoped would take more of the water away. He jumped through and the effect around the room faded, I moved my wand in a circle and the water vanished. I jumped down and started running for the whole, jumping through without thinking and landing awfully on a dark landing.

"Lumos!" I said and it revealed Hellscape a breath away from me. He struck, aiming for my neck. I felt the knife but my clothes didn't let it through. "Imperio!" it didn't work because he struck, grabbing and then throwing me down a flight of stairs.

I grunted as I landed, one arm twinging because I'd landed badly on it. Hellscape grabbed the railing at the edge of the stairs and pulled it out. It ripped in a neat row, long and the end coming out sharp; he stabbed it in my direction but I rolled out of the way, getting to my feet and then firing a curse. He moved the railing, hitting the curse and the railing lost, breaking apart at the spot I'd hit him.

He stamped his foot on the ground and it shook, almost making me fall over. He jumped and this time the shaking was more pronounced as he landed, cracks starting and the quickly magnifying.

"Reparo," it worked, but not enough. Just as the cracks were being made, more were taking their place spreading in a mess that lead them towards me. "Confringo. Confringo. Confringo!"

He threw his knife and the curse detonated, forming a large fiery explosion. The fire quickly became larger, spreading up and forcing the other spells to go off before they could hit him. When the spells were done, the fire disappeared.

What was even his power? Maybe if I knew it, I could figure out how to beat it.

 _Okay, Potter, be smart. What is he doing? Where are his powers leaning? It seems like he's a wizard in what he can do but that isn't the case. He has restrictions, just like Dame Percival._

It's easier if I ask, what _can't_ he do?

I was breathing a little hard, but then I was _tired._ Magic didn't tire someone out, but wand waving did, being in danger did, running and dodging did. Now that I thought about it, I could feel the twinges of pain running through my body: My legs and how they shook a little, my left arm and shoulder, how my lungs were burning.

But I wasn't going to let that fatigue stop me from getting this guy.

 _Focus,_ I thought. _What can't he do?_

Hellscape hadn't moved, still standing on a landing above me. He was most probably thinking of a way to escape now that he knew it was unlikely that he could beat me.

He'd shown a lot of abilities, but, counter to what I always assumed, he hadn't hit me directly. His knife could cleave things at a long distance but he hadn't used that as a ranged weapon directly at _me._ He'd attacked other things. Was his ability limited to non-living things? It wasn't totally unheard off, Applause's ability had worked in the same vein.

But even so, he was still strong. But then, that didn't matter, did it?

I tapped myself with my wand and then glared his in his direction. He took a step back and the room shook again, the battle between the Reparo Charm and his ability coming to live with vigour as cracks sprouted and were quickly fixed. He moved in the same instance that darkness stretched around us. I darkened my glass and saw Hellscape running to scale the stairs up; a Reducto Jinx hit the base of the staircase and there was a flash of light, the stairs being turned to rubble but not enough that it _broke._

A Lumos Charm and I started running, chasing after him while making conjurations. He would be able to destroy them, but they would slow him down, especially since he didn't have his knife. I got onto a landing and saw him reaching the landing up, the birds I'd sent at him now on the ground, not moving.

He was moving too fast, but I knew where he was going.

"Ascendio!" I was pulled up wand first, my arm wrenched a little as I flew into the floor above. I caught him as he was opening the door and he looked surprised before he pushed the door and sent it hurtling at me.

"Aresto Momentum!" I said and the door stopped, instead falling on the ground. I pointed my wand behind me as I started to fall and fire poured out, pushing me forward and spinning a little.

Hellscape moved out of the way and I quickly course corrected as much as I could. He must have realised that my wand wasn't pointed at him because he cocked his fist back, about to strike. I moved my wand, angling it like I was trying to push myself out of the way while I was really ending the spell. The fired sputtered out and his fist crashed into my chest. It hurt, there might have been a crack, but I was still alive, whereas he was on the ground, unconscious, and colour had returned to the world.

"Ron?" I said. "You need any help?" Not that I'd be able to provide it.

 _"No,"_ said Ron. _"I've got him. We've won."_

888

Invigoration Draught was running through my system and it meant I could go on, but that didn't mean anything to the hollow feeling that I felt. I ran a hand through my hair as I finally arrived in front of the seven people from the command centre. Most of them were fine, though a man was lying on the ground with his arm close to his side. They'd noticed me coming a while ago and all of them looked scared.

"Gwydion," I heard muttered. "Oh my god. Oh god, no."

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said, wand at my throat so I could project. "I just came to send you back to your command post. I can't help but think that planes might fall out of the sky if you're out too long."

"But," a woman said. "You're a villain. You attacked the city."

"Gracie," said a man, big and looking absolutely terrified. He looked at me. "Sorry about her. You're right. But, things were broken. It'll take hours to…" I held up a hand and he stopped.

"I didn't attack the city," I said, directing the comment to Gracie. "I was putting people to sleep because Herald was planning to use them as leverage."

"The announcement," a woman muttered.

"It worked, but there were places that I couldn't put to sleep," I said. "Places that didn't have automatic systems that would take over. You among them. I came here as quickly as I could after his paras were taken care off."

"You're still a villain," said Gracie.

Again I shook my head. "I'm not," I said. I considered for the moment just telling them that Sir Kay had been mastered, but they knew him and they would be unlikely to believe me. No, it was better to say. "I just figured out that the King's Men were under Herald's thrall and that they weren't working as hard to capture him. I tried to reverse this but it backfired."

Some of them didn't look like they believed me, others looked too scared to be able take in my words. But it didn't matter. I pulled out a rope and gave it to them.

"Say activate and that will send you back," I said. "I've fixed things and sent your friends to a hospital." I let out a sigh. "But things aren't good. Three of them died and one of them is barely hanging on."

The fear disappeared and its place was the worst sort of loss. It didn't make the hollow feeling fill up, instead it got steadily worse as I really thought about the fact that I hadn't been on my game enough to help them.

"I know it's horrible, working in a time like this," I said. "But it keeps others from meeting the same fate."

There were nods and I could see as expressions grew firm, pulling doing their best to bury away all emotion. I took out my wand before they could leave and fixed the one man's arm. He looked a little better with the pain gone, muttered a low thank you and then all seven of them disappeared.

I looked towards the airport building, watching as the last pieces of glass worked together and returned to being walls. People were inside, huddled close and some hurt. When I pushed, enhancing my senses, I could see medical personnel moving through the crowd, giving those who'd been hurt the help they needed. The more hurt would have been sent to hospitals to be looked after.

I turned on the spot and appeared in the Suits' HQ, their employees were awake and most of them were on phones making calls.

"…yes, sir," one was saying. "I know it seems bad but it was as good as things could turn out with how lopsided things were. We've been talking with… _them_ and they said Lord Walston might be a major help. Yes sir. I'll inform the Knave of Hearts."

I moved into a conference room where Terry and Hermione, with Freddie standing guard over them. The King and Queen of Spades were there as well, talking to them while the Ace of Swords sat in a corner, arms crossed and her expression far off.

"People back in positions?" said Hermione.

I nodded, sitting heavily on a desk. I felt so _tired._ I ran a hand through my hair, looking at them. "How do we move forward now?"

"That's the hard part," said Terry. "Things aren't over, far from it. We've been talking to the King and Queen—"

"Of Spades," Ace cut in.

"—and they're saying that between everything that's happened there might be new triggers in the works. People that'll try to fill the vacuum left by the villain's we've captured."

"Above and beyond everything else," said Hermione. "Waking people up, undoing the work that Herald's done but on a large scale. Leaving so many people sleeping is bound to have its dangers. Kids, people that were in places with fires, stoves left unchecked. We have over a million people to work through and it's going to take all we have, especially since we'll have to be _careful."_

"But we're calling in help," said the Queen of Spades. "The Knave would have been a boon in this situation but her location's still unknown. But alas."

"Ten is the new leader," said the King. "I don't know her well, but she was under the Knave. She'll come up with a good enough strategy."

"Never mind that they royally screwed things up in the first place," Ace muttered. "They're the grand thinkers and yet the let themselves be mastered."

"Ace," said the Queen, admonishment in her tone.

Ace snorted. "What are you going to do? Suspend me?" she said. She snorted again. "Don't try making cheques that you can't bank."

The Queen of Spades sighed. "If you're not going to contribute anything, then it might be best you leave," she said. "You were set to have gone back quite a time ago in the first place. Telling your Queen what happened on the boat."

Ace crossed her arms, an ugly expression spreading on her face. She looked at me. "Please tell me you didn't destroy my armour. It wasn't the best thing I could create, but…"

I nodded. "Give me an hour to figure where we were while we fought," I said. "I should bring it back."

She nodded and then stood, leaving the room and going upstairs.

"Ron and the Knave?" I said.

"Talking to Herald upstairs," said Hermione. "Getting details on the countermeasures that he's set and the people that haven't been accounted for." Hermione let out a breathe. "Things don't look good, Harry."

My stomach sunk further.

"How bad?" I asked.

"We might be leaving by the end of the week," said Terry. "It depends how bad things are. We'll have to disclose this with everyone. Talk about the future and how things will work in undoing Herald's effect, but knowing Blaise he'll want us to leave as soon as possible in case things might spill over."

"But what?" I said. "What is going on? Just the bare details?"

"Two things," said Hermione. "First, Merlin, Vantage and Terminus are working on a means of breaching the veil between our and this universe."

My stomach dropped, twisted and turned, trying to force what little food I had to rise. I kept it back.

"Second, he knows that some thinkers can't see us. He postulated that the Simurgh might have the same problem and so he recorded our fight, sent it out over the internet so as to invite challenge. Further prodding us so an estimate of our abilities can be known."

"Yeah," I said. "Blaise is going to want us out of here at first opportunity." And what was worse, I couldn't say that that wasn't the worst thing to do in these circumstances.

I slouched deeper into my chair, letting out a long breathe. It would be a long week.

888

AN: I couldn't get this chapter started for the longest time and when I did it was a matter of real life getting in the way and how long it was. Even then I didn't get as much is as I would have liked. But there's the Interlude for that, which will expand things. I think it will be quicker to come out, but there's still the real life factor.


	12. Interlude: Masters

Interlude: Masters

 _He should have been paying attention, but it was so hard to when it was all so abstract. What were the procedures? Where to run? There had been a pamphlet but he'd stashed it in a corner in his room while looking for a change of clothes. But now, here it was._

 _He looked up, though he really didn't need to; the_ scream _was pervasive, dulling the outside world at points as he could do nothing but dwell on it._

 _Even so there was a kneejerk reaction to look up, to see as the Simurgh moved through the air, dodging over three dozen lasers as they moved at her. A figure clad in black swooped through the air and a car got in the way, hitting the figure in such a way that she was forced away._

 _A building rose into the air and burst apart into pieces, all the pieces moving to hit some of the paras gathered in the air. Some tried to dodge but there were attacks at odd angles, smaller pieces that hit them from behind or to the side. There were only five paras left in the sky and they continued to attack._

 _Gavan looked away as pieces flew through the air, too close. He turned and started running, moving out of the way as they slammed into building sides and caused rubble to fall in waves._

 _The streets were unfamiliar. He'd thought he'd spend the day exploring the town, getting more of a feel for it than the façade the tourist traps had put up, but then she'd showed up._

 _A kid was running, clinging to a large man who was holding a smaller child and they seemed to be moving with purpose. He ran faster and followed them when the sky darkened: He looked up and a truck was flying towards them._

 _A para appeared, almost teleporting he was moving so fast. The man through his hands forward and called forth a stationary plate of spinning wind. The truck slammed into it, spinning and being torn to shreds, all of which splintered out, some of them bypassing the para and hitting his sides._

 _The man stumbled back, his costume red. The para looked at Gavan and then back at the man and his kids. He said something in French and Gavan couldn't understand, and then the man darted back, grabbed the man and the kid who'd been running and then started flying away._

 _Dread. The worst kind because he was alone in unfamiliar territory. There were people who could help him but they were fighting the Simurgh. Between the scream and the cacophony around him, it was unlikely that he would be heard if he cried for help._

 _He started running but it was panicked, without direction. His legs were starting falter, his lungs_ burning _and it seemed as though the fight was almost following him. He ran into a side street to see the woman clad in black,_ Alexandria, _slamming into the side of the building to his left and just as quickly taking off, large bursts of rubble trailing her._

 _He tried to turn around, find a different way but the street was already closed off, a portion of the building having tipped over. The building would start to rise at times, but then he'd see glimpse of the fight: Eidolon delivering an attack that landed. In those times the movement would stop trying to rise. The ground would shake at times, but the fighting steadily moved away, with only the scream as his companion._

 _Then it stopped. The fighting stopped. But no one came. No one ventured close even as he screamed for help; he was alone. He tried climbing through the rubble but it shifted, making the entire building shake, more rubble falling and almost hitting_ him.

 _He stopped, waiting for the heroes to come. He screamed for help at times, but night fell without rescue. A figure passed through the sky, moving too fast and Gavan's throat was raw. It didn't stop. They wouldn't stop because they had better things to do, better people to save._

 _He couldn't help thinking that if they hadn't been fighting her, the_ she _might have saved him. She'd been trying to raise the building after all. She'd cared when heroes hadn't._

 _The day passed as there was no help. There would be the thrum of a car in the distance but it wouldn't venture close. The para had most likely forgotten him if he wasn't dead and Gavan couldn't help picturing the man dead. Because that would be better than being forgotten._

 _An image, wonderous and big and unfathomable, but it was already fading. He couldn't help but here the low ringing against his ears,_ her _call; then, a figure appeared the sky, carrying three people in their arms._

" _Please! Help me!" he shouted. The woman looked down, landed and deposited the people on a rooftop and then dropped down._

" _What do you need?" the man had said._

" _I…just want to go home," he said, his throat dry from the shouting, each word strained. The man took him in his arms and then started flying, out of the city and through the paras that had to set up containment procedures. They passed through devastation, building upturned and levelled, some people ambling through the streets and yet the para hadn't stopped flying, only moving towards Gavan's home. It was then that he understood and he understood the greater picture._

 _He'd been_ blessed _by_ _ **her.**_

 _He now had power._

 _And he understood the role the Endbringers played in it all. No, not the Endbringers, but the Gods of Rebirth. She wasn't evil, but she wanted to bring out the best in them. After all, she'd manipulated the rubble, tried to get him out of his confines even as the heroes sought to stop her._

 _Hers and by extensions her brothers' was the true path. He needed to show that to the rest of the world._

#

It was all about signs. The Mother God was a subtle creature, not showing her true nature even to those who hailed her. Herald often thought of the experience of receiving his _blessing,_ the memory vivid against his mind, sometimes pulling him in and reliving the moment.

This, he knew, was the clearest sign of the Mother God's favour.

But that favour was something to be continually earned.

And it started with reading the signs.

Aliens had touched ground before, not from another planet but from an alternate Earth. There was precedence for this, already set by the Mother God and Herald couldn't help but see it all as steps that led to this. The Mother God had shown that she had the power to pull beings from another world, they had been ugly things, then, monstrous, but now they were prettier.

A refinement of the process.

The Mother God had made sure that he was present in one capacity or another to hear of the revelation, of the well-kept secret that the King's Men were all mastered. That Gwydion and his compatriots were from another world. Information that he could either use as leverage or disseminate as he pleased. But there was something greater.

All of it was in the sign, in the pawns that the Mother God had brought close to him through fate. Thinkers of the highest sort, specific sorts of information that would make things easier, and opponents that would prove his mettle.

He shifted a little and Hellscape reacted, his hands closing tighter around Herald's neck as he frowned in focus. The man hadn't done away with the odd nature of his ability: The room around them was stripped of colour except him, everything about him was stark, in detail. The thread bare nature of his clothes, the crispness of apron as he moved and how the blood drenched against it almost moved.

 _Theatre._

But it was all theatre, wasn't it? Looking at the signs, past achievements and how they rapidly _grew_ as more worthy opponents came, he knew that the Gods were putting on a play. Controlling things so that they played the long game.

But then it made sense when one _looked._ Destruction wasn't all the Gods did, but they focused on _growth._ Every place that they visited left something powerful in its wake, new paras whose power would likely not been achieved had the Gods not blessed them with their presence: He was part and parcel of this, but he wasn't the only one. Dragon had appeared after Leviathan's visit, Mannequin after a visit from the Simurgh, and Ash Beast after a visit from Behemoth.

Usually it happened on smaller scales, but when the Gods put their full focus on it, the result was something _big._

He let out a breath, a smile touching his face as he felt the exhilaration running through him. He could only imagine the possibilities that would unfold here. The Mother God had set all of this up as a test to _him._ She'd seen all the work he'd put in and was now rewarding him.

He could almost feel that they were close to having another Endbringer visit the Great Kingdoms, and _then_ he would be close to capitalise, getting whatever new para would sprout under his thrall.

"I think I'm done," said Hellscape. His voice boomed, ending oddly because it didn't echo, instead dying when it hit the walls. "Give it a try."

Herald took a breath and the said, "Ay-hem," the words spilling out. He grinned further, letting his mind loose as he thought about the future.

He was dealing with at least four people whose abilities were similar to Eidolon's except without the restrictions. They could flit between whatever they wanted, pulling out new abilities without consideration to rhyme or reason, and worst they saw themselves as _heroes._ They would be driven to put him down, to take away his control and he needed to counter that before they could get their footing.

He'd had plans before, but after seeing the small amount of power they could bring to bear, how quickly the two had planned against him, then he'd need to restructure, redefine the rules of the game. But first, he would need to know his opponents.

He stood from his seat and he felt the ripples, extending outwards. They were thick things, powerful enough that they could pass through any form of matter, but this effect steadily got weaker the further out they went, holding _less_ the further off.

In his immediate range, where the ripples were thickest, they held a portion of memory: The orders he gave out the most, stripped bare of all complexity. He liked efficiency and thus anyone in his range was almost always efficient, moving with a purpose: Ants in a colony.

He moved to his chair and he was fixed up, his costume straightened and hair tussled for that intentionally messy look. Hellscape to the right, the man large and burly, the colours around him more vivid than the surrounding light. Dogoba was to the left, gale force winds whipped around her, but the sound kept dulled and the after effects almost nil.

Position C-Five Three. Gwydion and Red had destroyed Sea Hag, something he hadn't thought possible with the woman's ability, but they'd done it. That would be the power he would be facing. The power he would have to overcome.

He let out a breath as a man started counting down, his grin having grown even further.

People would die because of this, not all but enough to send a message. Killing one of the Enlightened meant something. It was important that the world knew that, it was important that the _worlds_ knew that.

"People of Belfast," Herald started as the red light blinked on.

#

"Strong southerly winds," said Rapture, and then, "That's bad."

"The direction?" said Herald. Thing had turned out well enough, with their only loss being an Evan clone. Of course in the larger scale this would be bad, it would mean the Evans, even the original, would be weaker so long as the clone remained alive.

Rapture shook his head. "My ability doesn't give me direction," he said. "I just know that things will be bad in the next hour or so."

"And this doesn't change?" Herald said.

Again Rapture shook his head. "Not unless you don't fight, no. Or you fight using different variables," he said. "If you're going to do something, then my ability has spread through all the possibilities of what you're going to do and come up with the ultimate outcome. Strong southerly winds in the next phase. Gale force the further down we go."

"Okay," said Herald. He moved to a window and looked down. He liked being at this height, watching as people milled. He couldn't see the ripples, but he could imagine them, a blue colour that spread out, falling and the engulfing people, whispering ideas in their head.

He pushed away his mind's wondering and looked up at the sky, imagining he could see the Mother God sleeping. Too dangerous for anyone to touch even though she was relatively _close_ when certain abilities were taken into account. He had that in a respect, but that was only to be expected when he modelled himself after Her.

 _I'm supposed to lose this,_ he thought. _It was a test I was supposed to fail. A test within a test. What do you want me to do?_

He took a breath. Gwydion was out of the picture. Merlin had used Bliss' drugs in a large scale and it was only a matter of time before the man was left _unknowing,_ his trip turned bad and seeing only enemies.

Things had been pushed faster than he'd intended, and perhaps that was the reason things had turned out so badly. They had had been set to win at first, but now they were set to lose.

"Wait," he said. "Your ability changed before."

"Thinkers," said Rapture with a shrug. "It works better than most thinker abilities, but it can be forced to change as the model of the future changes. It's odd, though. Because reading things that get us too large a victory is difficult. Where there've been strong northerly wind, they've quickly been whipped into nothing. I think they either may have a powerful thinker or there's something there."

"There's something there," said Merlin. She was working at a table, small drones welding pieces together as she worked at forming an arm. Terminus was beside here, working on a small drone about the size of two fists. "Mad Hatter had trouble with him, there was certain knowledge he couldn't reach. We thought it might be knowledge that's close to their world."

The pieces started sliding in his mind, forming a larger picture but he needed on thing to make the image settle.

"Rapture? Different variables, then. The entirety of the Suits," he said. Rapture shook his head and Herald had his answer, he could see the greater picture. He'd been planning to expand himself. He still had the Portkey to the Suit's headquarters and if he wanted to, he could be there and have them all under his thrall.

He'd planned to use all that power to attack Gwydion's friends, but the future from that couldn't be told.

 _That's it, isn't it?_ he thought and he felt a swell of pride. _You have a weakness and you want me to shore it, don't you? You have an avenue you want to work towards but there's the greater theatre to consider._

"We're going to lose," he said and he was smiling. "But there's something greater in the works."

Some knowledge was hidden by their world. They could possibly do more but since the _more_ was done in their world it was hidden. Models of the future would be false. They would change. That needed to be done away with.

"If they're smart then they'll use the hour to prepare," he said. "If they're smart they'll know that the rules aren't what I made them out to be and they'll plan to show us all they can achieve. They'll take away my leverage—"

"Through the Flock," Merlin interrupted. Herald didn't feel anger at the interruption. The ripples ensured that any interruption would be vitally needed. "Before things came to a head, Harry was working on bird that could evacuate entire cities. He would harp on that he wasn't good at tinkering, but with his friend here…"

Herald nodded. "The…what did you call them, Vanishing Drones?" Merlin nodded. "Should be our next play. We'll protect them as we can. I want Ace in the field, prepared to fix them if they accumulate damage and everyone else working to take down Gwydion's friends before they can do away with them.

"Merlin. Vantage. Terminus. Knave. Rapture. Gorger," he said. "Stay behind." He waited as the others left. They would work together to form a plan. It was better if he didn't expand the effort in that avenue since it would ultimately yield nothing.

He liked this his ability knew him well enough that it kept _his_ people from moving. Hellscape was sitting in a corner; Dogoba looking outside, tracking the deviations in the wind; and Big Brother looking off into space. He would be watching set points through the city. With Vantage here, his ability hadn't been as useful as it could be, but keeping a tinker wasn't tenable. They required too much even with the power they could bring to bear.

"Okay," he said. They were expectant. He looked in a mirror and could see rapture, a young woman, perhaps in her early twenties. She didn't use her ability to her full potential on her own, but now, with his help, she would. "Gorger, you'll remain close," he said.

He was starting to form a plan, spreading out so it encapsulated what the Mother God wanted, all the pieces She'd sent his ways. Three tinkers that could build almost anything within their thematic restrictions, and one who specialised in surveillance.

"The others will leave," he said. "Vantage, you'll keep watching the feeds remotely, get something up on the internet, set so it's hard to remove. As safely as possible, I want you to contact the Fallen, tell them that these invaders are impeding the work of the Gods. I want you to highlight their tinker prowess, how they fight and their destructive capabilities. Hopefully the Nine will take the bait.

"But all that isn't your long term plan," he continued. "I want you to start working on a way to breach the dimensional barrier. I want you to work everything in your favour so that the ultimate objective comes to fruition. I don't want you to tell me the direction of your thoughts or how you'll be moving. You can decide them amongst yourself. _Go."_

With a nod. They all left. Three thinker and three tinkers, though there were only five of them. With the Simurgh guiding them, they would succeed. They would find that fate itself worked itself so that their desires, _his_ and Her desires, would come to fruition.

"And us?" Big Brother was the one to speak, even with how everyone else had likely guessed.

"We lose," he said. "Good for you because you'll be protected. Anything less than me or the Birdcage and the C.U.I…"

Big Brother nodded. A shipment lost and they'd had information that might lead back to the country. It would be easier to just clean the mess up. Herald hadn't even had to use his ability to make him join the Enlightened which was easier. Dogoba was the only person he'd _enthralled_ into the path and she'd lost her personality as a result. Instead turned into a puppet that only served him.

He didn't like being in the position, especially when there was something _greater_ to serve.

"They'll do something big," he said. "But there'll be limits. Artificial limits that they'll expect us to use. We'll use them, ending in our eventual capture. But even so, we're going to sow as much chaos as we can."

#

"Dogoba's gone," said Big Brother. "They caught her with their master ability."

"Any more to that?" said Herald. He watched as the people around him worked. He'd wanted to do away with his costume, but there pieces were set for his capture and it wouldn't do to hide. But he could plan for the future, when eventually the Mother God showed him the conclusion of her great plan.

"This sort of greenish-yellow light is the commonality," said Big Brother. "When the thing hits, they can command a person to do their whims."

"I have to wonder why it's has a greater weight than my ability," Herald muttered. He shook his head, watching as the civilians worked. They had guns and they were sorting them amongst themselves, with some people giving lessons to the others.

"One of them…Gwydion's alive and he's attacking Hellscape. There's another."

"They're not hiding?" Herald asked.

"Whatever they're using to hide seems to fade with more activity," said Big Brother. "The other is making their way here. It's the red head."

Herald smiled. "Let's see what Red can do," he said and the windows shattered, all of them, all at once and it too it limited Gorger. But there were other avenues.

"Expelliarmus!" Red said, soaring through the air and waving his wand. Guns went off but as the red light flew, the guns would be wrenched from their owner's hand. Red moved faster through the air, disregarding the guns and people and moving towards Herald who only stood, watching it all with a grin.

A computer exploded and Gorger unfurled: She was now a beast, a large mass with a myriad of eyes and mouths, human and octopus arms stretching from the centre mass. All of those arms were holding guns and they shot at Red. They were powerful, so strong that there was a crack as his shield disappeared.

Red tried to teleport and stumbled, but he was saved by the automatic activation of his frayed shield. It took a few hit before the shield broke apart only for another to appear, the bullets less effective. Slowly, Gorger was fading out of existence.

When she disappeared, Red moved. His wand whipped and a flood of darkness spilled through, covering every light and every area with a reflections and every person. The people who still had guns stopped shooting in the darkness, the thought carried by the compulsion of his ability. It would be too much risk that they might hit him.

Gorger found another avenue, an explosion that shook building. But it was in on the other side of the building and it sounded like she wouldn't be able to reach this side before she disappeared.

Red didn't care about her, he flew forward, direction the a bolt at him. Herald felt a wave of happiness. It had an artificial edge to it, especially when he knew the true happiness of serving the Simurgh. But he let it wash over him, because there were plans in motion and he was part of that.

"Tell them to stop," said Red. Some of the civilians were shooting, but they were turning their gunfire upwards. The sounds of Gorger moving could be felt, though with each passing second they got less insistent.

"You can stop," said Herald, acquiescing to the insistent words.

"You've lost," said Red and Herald laughed, a full belly laugh that was beyond the edge of happiness at the back of his mind. The edge of happiness seemed to react, getting a firmer grasp as it integrated with his own happiness, digging its roots deeper.

He saw all this and yet he didn't do anything because this was the _path._ The Mother God had a plan for him and him getting captured was part and parcel of that. He just hoped he could see it to the end, see the plan to its fruition. But that would be decided by the Gods.

"No," he said as he thought of all the possibilities. "Far from it."

888

" _Davynn," said Angela. "Do you join us. We did come here to see the sights, after all."_

 _He shook his head, his book in his hand and the world, for the most part, filtered out. She'd come here to see the sights, but he'd come here to be away from Mum and Dad. The expectations and the restrictions. Holding himself even when he wanted to just_ be.

 _The tutors and the lessons and the chidings. All of them boring. They expected him to do well in all they gave him and yet they didn't realise the simple truth: He was smart when it came to his interest, everything else was worth and there was only so much effort he could put in there._

 _Angela sighed. It was a long suffering sigh. "I'll leave you then." She made a point of slamming the door._

 _Gavynn didn't mind because he as alone._

#

 _It was all about the ripples, spreading outwards from each person. Each rise and dip, he could see. The ripples would hit a person a small range around the person and bounce back, now different and holding different forms of information: Emotions and thought and feelings, all of them abstract. Connections in their greatest form._

" _Lord Walston," said Wombat. He was a tall man, wearing a very tight costume, the material light and working to show off his musculature._

 _There were three others around Wombat, the parahumans of Canberra. A small team especially for the importance of the city. But then, its population was relatively low compared to Sydney or Melbourne, places in which a hero could get big enough that they could live off of being a hero. Villains, those who didn't want the fame of a big city, naturally saw Canberra as a middle ground. Not to big and not too small._

 _This was especially bad for Canberra. The League, as they locally referred to themselves, had started twelve men strong, but that had quickly fallen apart through in-fighting. They'd broken into smaller groups and then solo in some cases, death had quickly followed those cases._

 _The League was the last through group of heroes in the city._

 _Lord Walston paid attention to their ripples, seeing how they bounced back and the information they held. Wombat, Tide and Spatter. There was a camaraderie there but it was dulled, overwhelmed by a sense of resentment which was further overwhelmed by a sense of guilt. With how the guilt was pervasive, it seemed environmental._

" _It's good to finally meet you," Wombat continue. He extended a hand and Lord Walston returned the favour, shaking it. The ripples spread towards him and hit, bouncing back with a questioning nature. He focused on the waves, altering the frequency until there was a sense of familiarity._

" _Yes," said Lord Walston. He looked at the other, focusing on their ripples and altering them. It was easier this way. He had only so much time and there were a lot of things to do. He wanted to be left alone, to study whatever interested him, but his ability was useful enough that no one could._

 _The Queen had wanted him as a personal guard. The Prime Minister's office had wanted him as one of their thinkers. The King's Men had wanted him to pad out their forces._

 _And each he couldn't refuse. The Queen was the Queen. The Prime Minister's office because what they wanted to do was useful. The King's Men because they kept the worst sorts evils from taking over society. So he'd had to fudge things, work in such a way that he could still be a free agent. Bits of manipulation here, the right people in the right places. He'd worked and earned his freedom._

 _But things had opened up further, a world that called out to him in one respect or another._

" _I will be curt," he said. Tide radiated with offense but it was quickly tempered before it could fester. "Things have already been outlined in the message I sent your group, but in case you understand it it's a such: Parahuman groups are bound to fail without a master's influence. It's too much of a powder keg. Emotions and biases and traumas. You more than many have likely figured this out."_

 _Nods. He could see it in their ripples and he made the right sort of feelings more pronounced._

" _I'll magnify specific bouts of information while dulling others," he said. "You'll find that you work better together. It'll be easier to move past troubles but it won't change the greater scope of who you are."_

 _Doubts but they were dulled. The guilt raised so that they could see things his way._

" _We knew what we were getting into," said Tide. Lord Walston nodded and then worked. He built the ripples up as they formed, enforced a sense of permanence within them. It was easy work, especially since he had a lot to work off of. Three hours and it was done._

 _A second and it all fell apart as she_ screamed.

#

"It's not something you want to have," said Lord Walston.

He was in a room and he was tired. It had a been a few months watching his thoughts, watching the ripples he let out and those others sent towards him; speaking with the right tinkers and looking towards the future.

He hadn't been in the range too long. He'd been forced to leverage all of his power, alter things so that even with the greater threat, everyone worked to protect him. There were too few people who could stop him if he _turned_ and even with all the deaths, he needed to make sure the Simurgh couldn't get him.

Now, it was this. Called in the early hour of the morning, early enough that he had rightly mistaken it as night, and asked to Belfast where an entire city was asleep.

He let out a breath and watched the ripples. There was a different cadence to them, there was a happiness that was layered around the emotions and they were _directed_ towards something he couldn't see. The master.

"I think I could dull it," he said. "But then there's also Herald's effect to consider. How they layer together. I'll need to be in a room with Herald so that I can see his ability in work."

"I don't think that's what we want," said the Queen of Spades. "Gwydion doesn't trust the hold that his master ability has on Herald. At the wrong moment he could be loose and he might have _you_ under his sway."

Lord Walston took a breath and thought it through. Herald modelled himself after the Simurgh, and through reading there had even been a theory that he held the Simurgh's favour in as much as a person could. This could all be a plan of the Simurgh, where she couldn't get them him in Canberra, then this might be another her way of aiding that.

But…

He let out a breath. There was too much at stake. He took out his phone and made call. It was answered promptly. Goodwill that had been garnered through the years, the non-powered sort of manipulation.

"I'm about to go into Herald's range," he said.

" _Good,"_ was the answer. _"You won't fall under his effect."_

 _Good,_ he thought. To the Queen of Spades he gave a nod and she pressed her phone in a sequence. The scenery suddenly shifted and he was standing in a room in the Suit's Headquarters with the Ten of Hearts standing with her arms crossed, looking beyond a glass to a room where Herald sat, bound in change and wearing a smile.

This close and he could see it, how Herald's ability worked. It was a ripple spreading outwards, each ripple holding a condensed information. He looked and he could see it, intuit what each of the information meant and how it was layered. He tested it, changing the information and he watched as it worked, his own warped orders being propagated outwards.

The potential of it all was laid bare to him. How the time he had might be increased because he could work at a much larger range. He could do a lot of things which he'd wanted to do but had been limited by time and his ability: He'd thought before of starting his own team, one altered from the beginning to be a machine of efficiency, but making something like that from nothing would take too much time, and trying to form the feelings in the manual regard would have its own host of issues.

But with Herald's ability.

He looked at the ripples as saw the intent of efficiency, how Herald's ability was geared towards the greater whole being one. Any set of parahumans in his range would work towards that efficiency, but he could turn it so that it was turned to a greater world.

He let out a breath and paid attention to the room for the first time. He became aware that it had the three members of the Suits: Ten of Hearts, and the King and Queen of Spades. They were looking at him expectantly.

"Excuse me," he said. "I seem to have been lost in thought. Coincidence or not, it seems as though Herald's and my abilities work along the same frequency, so to speak."

"So you can counter it?" said the King of Spades.

"Not counter as such," he said. "His ability is always on. But I can direct it. Make it stop calling people near as it has been. Of course since the city is asleep this hasn't meant anything. But as we begin the process of waking people up…"

The room nodded.

"I'll alter the orders towards you. Your greater sense of being as related to him and then I'll start working on _their_ master ability."

"Good," said the Queen. "As much as they've been a great help in finally stopping the Enlightened. I don't trust them enough to know that any word from them might return me to the last day."

"Understandable," said Walston. "I'll get started. Then we'll move onto the rest of the town."

#

"Are you sure this is safe?" it was Harry Potter who asked. The man was tired and even though he'd gone through the trouble of dulling his ripples, Lord Walston could still see it. See the artificial calm that just held back the large scale guilt he felt at the surrounding situation.

Behind the man were Susan Bones and Frederick Spriggs. There was someone else who hadn't introduced themselves, a stranger who held the same sort of odd cadence that Susan and Frederick both had. It was a pleasure to watch and Lord Walston found himself wanting to devout himself to studying the oddity.

All of them were thinkers in some capacity, he was sure of it, working towards the same goal but using different means. Ms Bones was manipulating her own ripples, even beyond the artificial calm she warped things so that they were placid, unmoving; Mr Spriggs was different, he had layers of ripples, with the topmost being the worst sort of artificial; and the stranger held no moving ripple. For all intents and purpose he was dead of attachment and emotion.

Mr Potter was the only oddity. He worked much like Ms Bones, though he was slower. He would ease his ripples, but then everything would fall apart at any stimuli close enough. Looking at the wrong person and his guilt might rise, an odd sort of longing. He'd seen this in many of the heroes that usually burned out.

All of them had one commonality, though. They were paying attention to their ripples.

He couldn't hope to alter them without being discovered. He made a mental note to tell the Prime Minister's thinker. Any information of these people's abilities would help in case things turned out badly.

"My ability is short ranged," he said. "As we wake them up. I'll note the ones who've been put under his thrall. As I watched the…wavelength, for a better word, I should have a much easier time. My reach will extend."

A lie.

They could be invaders. If not them, then one of their people. It made the most amount of sense if they didn't show them everything they could achieve, especially if he could get the right people to endorse what he wanted to do. The world would be watching how they treated Herald, many would expect him to be sent to the Birdcage. But he was already preparing arguments against this.

"Okay," said Mr Potter with a shrug. He reached into his costume and pulled out a block of wood with a button at the centre. He pressed it and there was a thwoom, a pulse sent outwards and everyone stirred, their ripples coming alive. He paid attention to how they reacted when they met Herald and he changed Heralds outward stretching ripples for the intent _calm._

It worked and then he focused on the interaction, the artificial nature of the ripples when one was mastered. Different avenues raised while other were dulled in _odd_ configurations, in those cases he dulled the work Herald had put into effect.

He counted six people in the station that were mastered.

"Done," he said. "We'd best leave while the others explain." Mr Potter nodded and then pulled them into the tube, depositing them in another station where they got to work again. The Police and then the firefighters would be woken up. They would spread out and wake people throughout the city using the devices given by the wizards.

Through it all, he would be directing Herald towards calming everyone. The city was too large with not enough people geared towards his ability. Taking it too slow and troubles might start. If people started waking up then they might use the current circumstances to their advantage. They would hope for the best, with the Suits patrolling to make sure no one killed themselves.

People would be missed. But this was better in the grander scale.

#

"Can we talk?" said Mr Potter. Dawn had come, the sun now in the process of slowly moving to the middle of the sky.

Lord Walston didn't want to talk. But there were relationships to be garnered. He didn't sigh, instead nodding and finding a room in the Suits' Headquarters. Mr Potter pulled out his wand and ran it through the air.

"You know about the King's Men?" he said.

Lord Walston nodded. "Sir Kay," he said. "His influence."

Mr Potter sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I thought that you didn't know," he said. "Because if you didn't know then I could ask that you do something about it." He sighed again. "Why?"

"Why do I let the influence persist?" he said. Mr Potter nodded. "You haven't been long here long, Mr Potter, which means you might not know the stats. But as things stands, there are more villains on this world than there are heroes."

"I know this," Mr Potter said.

"There are also other statistics," he continued. "That people who start out as heroes, often find themselves turned into villain or anti-hero through their career. That groups of heroes, with _few_ exceptions, splinter. The exceptions being: The Protectorate, the Yangban and the Guild. All others that work in groups, only do so in the loosest terms of the word.

"The same was happening with the King's Men," he continued. "They forced themselves to fight the Endbringers. They forced themselves to fight every villain that popped up, and this was before the Suits came together. People left the group if they didn't die, some others snapped and turned villains. That had to be stopped."

"And Sir Kay was doing that?" he said.

"Yes and no," said Lord Walston. "Sir Kay was taking too long. I nudged his effect, entrenched the loyalty sooner. I've been doing so in every occurrence, though I've been too busy to do this in the last two years."

"So it was you," said Mr Potter. There was anger and Lord Walston instinctively dulled it. Mr Potter reacted, his hand finding his wand again as he glared, not fuelled by anger but by suspicion. "Do you know that they tried to kill me? They were prepared to start a war?"

"Huh," said Lord Walston, a deception. "I'll have to go fix that."

"That's all you have to say?" said Mr Potter. Disbelief. Lord Walston didn't touch it.

"That's all that I can say," he said. "I don't know what happened, but I'll ask the King's Men when I talk to them next. I'll put controls in place so that it never happens again. Dwelling in the past will help nothing. Let's focus on the past only so far as it betters us."

Mr Potter tempered himself, breathing and changing his ripples. It took at least ten minutes before his ripples were even. It was something to watch, similar to his ability but turned inward. There was still the underlying emotions, but they weren't as close to the chest and Mr Potter was working to push them back.

"Aiden and Brody go free," said Mr Potter and his voice was hard. "I don't want you messing with them because if they work for the King's Men and I find it _odd._ I'll be coming after you."

Lord Walston nodded. "If that's all? I have things to discuss with Suits before I leave."

Mr Potter nodded. He waved his wand. "Oh, and tell them I want my wand." Then he disappeared with a soft pop.

Lord Walston took a breath. It was now time to convince everyone that he could build a UK team that would rival the Protectorate and the Yangban. Mr Potter's threat meant nothing in the grander scheme. It would be worthless if he could create a united force, bound so tightly that internal conflict would be meaningless.

That was his ultimate objective.

He smiled, a sort of happiness because he'd succeeded in one respect, another manipulation though without his powers. Mr Potter had been angry at the King's Men for their attempt at him, now he no longer was, instead he had a different focus. A step towards him and his group working well with the King's Men when there was an Endbringer attack.

Cooperation. But the hard way.

888

 _Her stomach twisted. She hadn't eaten a large enough meal in a matter of days and it was starting to take effect. She was still young enough that the authorities might ask questions if she went to the shelters, and after the last place she didn't want that experience._

 _She thought about the food she had. Enough that she could spread it over a week if she carefully rationed, though she wouldn't be able to with how old it was, but that wouldn't be the fact._

 _The alley was in the bad part of town, but the buildings were close enough together that it offered_ cover. _It was a good place to be, but only if there were numbers and the food was a step towards that. There would be thirteen girls, rougher than her and with more combat experience._

 _Or rather, there_ were _thirteen girls and now things were changing. She was worried because the last time there had been only seven of them with no explanations about the others. Was a new gang sprouting? Or were the Belfast Boys taking the unpowered now?_

 _There was a sound and she reached into her pocket, pulling out a knife she'd been gifted by Bethany. She didn't know how to use it, but Bethany had told her to project strength. She held her bag tighter, hid behind a trashcan and watched the end of the alley._

 _A girl, shorter than average, her hair well done, though her clothes gave it away. The lights of the city hit her and Elsa could see the face. She let out a breathe and moved from her hiding position, smiling at the girl._

" _Jessica," said Elsa. "You scared the hell out of…" Two guys, tall and burly. Jessica looked scared, but it wasn't the right sort of scared. The guys walked into the alley, one of them bumping past her._

" _I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Jessica was saying as the guys moved closer. Elsa wasn't sure what was going to happen, but it would be bad._

 _The signs had been clear and she should have seen it sooner._ Girls _were disappearing. They had a network that made sure that they should have heard word if one of them were nabbed by social workers or left town, but there hadn't been such word. The answer should have been obvious and yet it hadn't been._

 _They'd been_ taken.

" _Don't fight or I'll have to hurt you," one guy said. Elsa looked at Jessica for help but she could see it in how the girl held herself that no help would be forth coming. She could only imagine what they would—_

 _A man, tall and dressed in a suit. The guy in front of her recoiled but it was too slow. The man swung a too thin arm and caught the guy in the stomach, smacking him off his feet and sending him crashing into the side of a building._

" _Fuck, cape," the other was saying and he reached at his side, pulling out a gun. The man strode forward and grabbed the gun as it was levelled at him; he caught the guy by the neck and then threw him up._

 _Jessica had disappeared. Ran._

 _ **There could be more,**_ _the man said._ _ **They could be working for the Belfast Boys. There could be more with guns. Jessica could tell people you're a cape. The Belfast Boys will know either way. You'll have to run but you have no money. They could already know. They could be coming—**_

 _It was too much. Too much she knew and couldn't do anything about. She started running._

#

 **He could die,** the Crooked Man said. **He could die and then what? You can't look after yourself. The others don't care about you. Not really. You don't know how to fight. You don't have any friends except him. You should have stayed with the King's Men.**

"If I'd stayed with the King's Men I would have been mastered," she said. She was supposed to be asleep but she couldn't. The Crooked Man acted on his own, even when she was asleep. She could push him away if she wanted to but that required _effort._

Harry was still in Belfast, fighting against the Enlightened.

 **He could be under Herald's thrall this very moment.**

"They took protections," she muttered.

 **But that doesn't mean they'll last forever,** he said. **They were discussing countermeasures. Something could slip at the wrong moment and you'd be left without his protection.**

"Fuck," she muttered and she swung off the bed, stepping on the floor. Magic was amazing but it didn't help when you _thought_ about it. Like how could this tent be larger on the inside and yet still be foldable?

She shook her head, leaving her tent— _her own tent—_ and going to the Common Tent. Hermione was there, sitting and reading a book on capes as the cutlery behind her moved through preparing a cup of tea. She looked up as she entered and smiled a little.

"You're still up?" she said.

 **She could be annoyed. She's worried and now she has to look after you. She's smart enough that she knows that if they have to leave then they can't take you wi—**

"Yeah. Worried," she said, dulling the Crooked Man's words. "Ron isn't here?"

"He's in Belfast," said Hermione. "Tea?" Elsa nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'd thought you'd fallen asleep. Everything went about as well as we could expect in Belfast. A few death and likely more because he haven't had time to set things up, but overall good. The Enlightened are no longer a factor."

"You caught them?" she said. She couldn't remember a time when the Enlightened weren't a factor to be considered.

"Herald, Hellscape, Dogoba and Big Brother," said Hermione. "Turns out Harry mistakenly killed Sea Hag during their initial fight."

"You caught Big Brother?" she said and she smiled, feeling a weight coming off of her. Even this far away she'd been afraid that he'd pull string and get her.

 **He could still escape. Herald could have countermeasures. He models himself after the Simurgh it's likely that he has countermeasures. This could be the calm before the storm.**

Hermione nodded. "He's in captivity. He asked that he be put in a very secure cell. He's afraid of some people that the Suits say are really bad. But they're handling that. I think we've tried too much too soon and there's risk of burning out."

Elsa frowned as she looked at Hermione. She was a lot like Harry, well they all were in a strange way. Seamus censored himself a little, but beyond that they just _spoke._ Not even talking down to her as adults often did. Even now they were just telling her everything.

She wanted to focus on that, but it didn't seem as important.

"You've still got the Endbringers to think about," said Elsa.

Hermione looked at her. The tea arrived in front of them as well as some biscuits. She sighed. "If we'll be staying here in the long term."

Her heart picked up and it became harder to keep the Crooked Man's words from reaching her.

"What?" she said.

 **You'll be alone. You'll be defenceless. There's only so much I can do and other people have been practising with their powers.**

"People are going to find out that we're from another world," she said. "With how they don't like Harry, they might push for war on the large scale. Or they might just be scared. We'll be working to control things, but if they seem untenable then it might be better to cut our losses, start looking at other worlds for resources."

Elsa took in a large breath before she let it out.

"What would happen to me if that happened?" she said, and her voice shook.

Hermione frowned. "I don't know," she said. "Harry would want you to be safe, but if it's decided that we can't just take you to our world then there's little he can do. I'm sure he'd set you up so that you have a home, that you're protected." She sighed again. "But we might be forced to leave you here. I'm sorry."

She remembered Jessica and how she'd said sorry but hadn't _done_ anything. How she'd brought the men. There was really no one she could depend on except herself. She'd been foolish in putting all her trust in Harry and his friends.

 **You should train,** said the Crooked Man and Elsa nodded. It was the first thing he'd said anything that hadn't been a warning. **Harry likes you, he could give you other things to fight with. He could make you protections. Use him.**

She nodded to herself. It was the best thing to do in the long run, not just sitting around when the world was so dangerous around her and the people not worth trusting. If she wanted to survive, she needed to be self-sufficient.

She was quiet as she ate, catching as Hermione took glances at her at times. The Crooked Man was quiet as she fortified the image of wanted to do in her mind. She appreciated this.

 **He's here. He's tired. He won't be open to talking.**

 _Tomorrow,_ she thought.

#

"I want you to teach me how to fight," she said.

They were eating their first meal of the day in the afternoon. All of the witches and wizards were eating large enough portions that Elsa wondered why all of them weren't fat. But they seemed like the sort of people that worked out a lot.

Harry looked up. "What brought this on? Thought you were danger averse."

Elsa shrugged. "It might be out of my hands that I might face danger," she said. "Especially since I can't control this guy. Especially since you guys might be leaving soon."

"That's not set in stone yet," said Harry. He wasn't surprised that she'd been told. "There are still discussions to be made. There's going to be a press conference soon about the video, turning things towards us. If it works out…" Harry shook his head. "But I'm thinking that you see danger in the future?"

"It doesn't work like that," she said. "It's more, wide scale. Every possible danger is given to me in a list. The Crooked Man thinks I should be able to defend myself if it's needed."

"Can't he fight for you?" said Andrew. "You don't actually need to be in a fight. It's why I'm thinking of making an always active conjuration."

"Careful with that," said Hermione. "Magic is…" Andrew glared in her direction. "…temperamental," she finished feebly.

"Magic is not temperamental," Andrew said. "It's variables. _Variables,"_ he said, his voice rising. "It's because these damned wizards are lazy and they've spread this to their progeny. It's not even hard to see. All cases where magic has been temperamental has been because—"

He was hit by a spell that came from Ron.

"I can disarm you faster than you can pull out your wand," Ron said. "First calm down and then undo the spell. Elsa, you wanted to train? You do understand that most of us only really know how to duel, right? We're good in scraps, but that's not good footing to fall on."

"Don't lump me in with your laziness. You _progeny,_ " said Seamus. "Between Dad and Dean, I had no choice _but_ to take up some form of muggle fighting."

"Enchanted weapons," said Susan. "If we leave and we can't take her with us then lets outfit her. Make the weapons so they'll work only for her. Armour her up so that she doesn't have to worry about."

"I don't think I like the idea of outfitting a sixteen year old," said Mr Zabini.

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. Wouldn't have minded if we'd been outfitted at that age," he said. Hermione, Seamus, Terry and Susan nodded at that, humming in agreement.

Harry nodded, ascent. Elsa smiled, feeling a little at ease. If he agreed then the others would listen. Except Mr Zabini, but then he looked like he'd been out voted.

The Crooked Man disappeared.

888

Splice was generally happy about how things had turned out.

She didn't have a title, but she sat at the table. There were so little of them left and things would likely to return as they were before the wizard had joined their ranks. But this time it would be different. She knew the others were under Sir Kay's ability which meant she could trust they had the King's Men best interest in mind.

"I think it's worth the risk of telling you about Cauldron and what it could do for us," she said.

It wasn't a risk because she'd already spoken with _them,_ a favour for a favour, though when she thought about it that was just a transaction at this point. She'd pointed in the right direction and she'd gotten permission to get the others in the fold.

Soon they would have more members.

888

"The others'll find it suspicious that we've secreted ourselves like this," said Seamus. They were in Ireland in some field. They could have had this meeting at base and the others would have respected it, but these abilities…

They were strong, they were specialised and they were unpredictable. Seamus ran hand over his chest, remembering the fight with David and Lancer. The former with the ability to blitz through every shield without trouble, while the latter could bypass all protections and hit _him._

He'd been warned about this by Harry and the others, but even so, he'd put a lot of trust on his protective enchantments and they'd come out lacking. In the end he'd gotten a rhythm, learned how they fought and forced them to run, but he'd been _lacking_ in the first place.

"They may be suspicious but they know the role we play," said Archibald. "And I'm sure they'll guess what we're going to do."

Susan groaned. "We're going to do it, then? Even with all the trouble it might cause if their thinkers catch on?"

"The C.U.I," said Frederick. "While everything was settling, the Suits out and waking up the citizens of Belfast, I Confounded one of them to give me hero worth information on the C.U.I. It's a badly kept secret that they trade in parahumans, that they're doing this in other countries. But they're powerful enough that the only country that could successfully go at war with them isn't affected. Then there's an organisation that calls itself Gesellschaft. They experiment in parahuman, ways to force people to get powers. It's hit and miss, but it opens up an avenue for them."

"Us," said Susan and her voice was shaky. "

Archibald nodded. "It's unlikely that we'll be able to stop Merlin and her forces from breaching our world," he said. "It's worse for us if wereturn to our world because it means we're closing ourselves off to allies. In a passive aggressive move, the people of this world might become apathetic if others start entering our world. Citing, and quite rightly, that they don't have the power to control all of the world's population."

"This is needed," said Frederick.

Seamus held his hands up and shrugged. "I wasn't going to fight against it," he said. "Almost all of this is above my head. I'm a grunt, handle the flashy, simple stuff. You guys have been around longer. I'll follow your lead. But I think we should tell the others."

"Harry and Ron can't know," said Susan. "At least not until they master Occlumency. It opens up their thinkers to seeing our plans."

Archibald and Frederick nodded. Seamus shrugged.

"Then what are the backbones of what we're going to be doing?" he said.

"Thinkers can't see us very well when it comes to going back home," said Archibald. "So we're going to use that. We're not going to _use_. I've already convinced Hermione, Andrew and Terry to push down their curiosity in that particular avenue. Harry still doesn't know, which works for us. Ron, with how he thinks, will know that this can be used as a trump card. But we'll have to convince him to learn Occlumency or be under a constant Calming Potion.

"The ultimate objective here is to ship things back home. That's all there is. From there they'll decide what to do with it. But for us, _except if the world was ending,_ we're not going to use again."

Nods reverberated. "We'll start when we're better rested," said Archibald. "Less chance for error. We'll use the ultimate amount of stealth, not going after thinkers until we're sure they can't detect us. Africa will be easier, the war torn places. High concentration of abilities but it opens up the chance that they might die and we'll not have viable material. But it's less of a risk than more organised countries."

Seamus gave a nod.

"Nothing brash," said Frederick and he looked at Seamus. "No fire birds, no sky on fire. Gather as much information as possible, quickly in and out without detection."

"I get it," said Seamus. This was their trump card, one, if there was a war, that could make them _win_ it. It wasn't like anyone else in this world had access to Polyjuice.


	13. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Kingsley let out a long sigh, eyes closed in contemplation. A moment passed and his eyes opened, colder, calculating, mouth set in a thin line and his hands steepled.

"Probability that this works," he said. "That they breach into our world?"

"That's hard, sir, with the information we have," said Hermione. "I've been doing some reading, compiling and…less than a year is the safest estimate I can make. A tinker, that is, a person who can create magic-level technology, already figured out how to create their own variation of a Portkey in the span of week. Of course, in that time, she had watched the Portkeys Harry had created, but she still has that knowledge in her head.

"It shouldn't be easy building something that can breach the universal divide," Hermione continued. "But it is in the realm of possibility, especially if we look at things from a greater perspective: Travel to other universes has already been done in this world, tinkers learn from studying the work of other tinkers and, if they can work together, there've been signs that what they create is often _better._ "

"And that's not taking into account the quirks of their abilities," said Andrew. Kingsley looked in his direction. "One of the tinkers, she calls herself Terminus, gets a complete image of what she's trying to build. She can tell how long it will take, the material that will be required and the amount of money each of those pieces might cost. With the help of Merlin and Vantage, people with few restrictions in what they can build—except in the artificial sense—there's the possibility that we might have overestimated their completion time."

Kingsley nodded slowly.

"Are we secure?" he asked.

We weren't in the normal camp site because Jay's ability was still so vague and the Crooked Man could maybe listen in. We'd moved again and this time we were in Ireland. I'd set up some enchantments in a very large area while making them more dense at the centre; even if someone could breach our primary protections, it was unlikely that they could do it undetected and without being incapacitated at the effort.

"We're secure," I said.

"Can we find them?" Kingsley asked.

"We're already working on it," said Hermione. "Andrew had a project he was working towards before this mission. A detector, he's thinking that he can repurpose it so that it can detect parahuman abilities. I've been working on integrating three spells into a device: Point Me, Patronus Charm and the Human Revealment Charm. I'm hoping that it might be able to point us in the direction of what we want. It might take me a week before I have it done, if I don't have any interruptions."

"Are you expecting interruptions?" said Kingsley. Then he shook his head, looking slightly in my direction before he looked at all of us. "Okay. What would happen if we just left? We don't have to stick around, and if we do, I might have to speak to the international community, make sure that we're not blindsided."

"I think that may not be for the best, sir," said Ron. Kingsley looked at him. "The guy we fought, the one who put this in motion, he believes that he has the favour of the Simurgh, one of the Endbringers. I've been reading up on them, I've even asked the Suits for access to their footage on the Endbringer attacks but that's still awaiting authorization, and it seems unlikely. The Endbringers seem to be chaos bombs, the Simurgh is usually more directed in her chaos, but nonetheless nothing to this scale.

"But we have to rely on the worst case in these things, and _here,_ that's if Herald's words are true. The Simurgh, and by extension the _Endbringers,_ are trying to gain access to our world. That means devastation," he ended.

My stomach twisted and turned. I had to calm my breathing, pay attention to my emotions, push down the guilt I felt when the stray thought would come that this was my fault. All of it.

A more rational person might have seen the power of the Endbringers, worked this out as a possibility and then just high-tailed it out of here. After all, the people of this world were dealing with this mess, they'd grown used to it, but the people of my world hadn't. If there was an attack, there'd be panic, the worst sort of devastation, and who was to say that the parahumans of this world would band together to protect our world as they did ours.

Kingsley just nodded. "Can we expect help from the people of that world?" he asked.

"I've been speaking with them since everything has started," Blaise said, sitting forward a little. "Getting allies. The King's Men have agreed to stand with us if hostilities are put aside," he said. I still wasn't sure how to feel about _that_ bag, but holding on to hostilities meant nothing.

"The Suits were happy to work with us since we helped their people with Herald, and Harry tried to protect the people who killed their members," he said. "I was contacted by Dragon of the Guild and she says they're willing to work with us. She said she's already doing her best to look for any places the video might appear and stop it.

"She also drew up plans which Seamus has gone to print out," he continued. "Contracts on a working relationship between us and the Guild. She's hoping that she might be able to study our 'technology' and produce it so that the Endbringer threat is nullified. I've also spoken to the Triumvirate, got a feel of what they might bring to bear; a team that calls itself The Elite, willing to help us in making business contacts, figuring out rates and the like. A man by the name of Accord also sent us a plans, he said they would be the best way of achieving our objectives on this world."

 _Thinkers,_ I thought. It hadn't even been a full twenty-four hours after things had happened, they hadn't even settled entirely and yet much of the world was already reacting, positioning themselves closer to us so they might be better off. I couldn't help but feeling a little paranoid that they might be 'watching' this very moment.

"You've been busy," said Kingsley.

"Yes," said Blaise and it sounded hollow. He'd been running off of Invigoration Draught since yesterday. His job wasn't as physically active as ours, but he'd been working nonetheless: Pushing so that the right people knew what we were doing in Belfast and holding off the military when we'd covered an entire city in birds. He was the reason we hadn't lost so many people in hospitals, that the people hadn't abandoned their duties to panic.

And after that, he'd had to travel around the world, doing his best to make deals that might carry us forward, and all through that he'd managed to even have breakfast with us this morning. Of course he'd gone to sleep after, but I had to admire the guy's work ethic.

"But I'm restricted, sir, because I don't have the power to authorise these deals," he said. "We're going to earn a commission for the stuff we build, royalties for technology that's built using knowledge from magic and magical devices, and we'll earn goodwill. But, thinking about possible threats…"

"You have the authority," said Kingsley to Blaise. "Spriggs and Danvers will determine the spells and artefacts that can be shown to them. It's better if we don't give them too much while understanding so little. We do our best to earn their goodwill because that might be what protects us if these people succeed."

"Another matter, then, sir," said Hermione. "We'll need more people. We'll need our full set of enchanters, we might need _others_ too going by the possible threat-level. Working with others, I mean. Japan is far more advances with magic which relates to radiation than any other magical civilisations, the Americans and the their odd spellcasting techniques."

"I get it, Granger," said Kingsley, the words terse. He ran his hand over his features. "I'm liable to lose my job for this." He looked at me. "If that looks like it's going to happen, then I don't care how much it rankles you're going to take over."

 _Fuck me,_ I thought as I said, "Yes, sir."

That would be the worst sort of thing, but then weren't many people they would accept. It would be a stupid decision, a very stupid decision, but the Wizarding World saw me as the most powerful wizard alive even though there were extenuating circumstances.

What made things worse was Dumbledore. He'd been so humble about his power, showing it only when necessary, that he'd set a sort of precedence. When people looked at me now, they thought I was doing the same thing, hiding my power behind humility.

 _Fuck me._

"Do the best you can," said Kingsley. "That's all that can be asked for at this point. I'll start setting things up on my end, speaking to the right people." Kingsley moved his hand and the image disappeared, the mirror starting to shrink.

I let out a breathe. "What now?" I asked.

"Talks," said Blaise. "But first, a bespoke suit."

888

"This will take ages before it's complete," I said. I was standing with my arms at either of my side while an old man was working through measurements. We'd been going at it the last hour.

Blaise sat at a table, three stacks of documentation sitting beside him as he read through it all. He had his Quill out and it was floating in the air beside him, scratching at the paper at times and jotting down other things. He would flick his wand when he was complete, moving onto another piece of paper.

"It's not," he said. "There's a woman who calls herself Parian. Her ability is making clothes. She'll use this man's work to craft you a suit. I'm hoping it will be a considerably shorter amount of time."

"I already have a costume," I told him.

"We need to distance you from that image," he said. "When people see that costume they'll think of the Flock. They'll think terrifying and they might think invader. When parahumans see that suit they won't be thinking Minister of Magic."

"That could _not_ happen," I said. "Kingsley fought in the war. He was an Auror and he's been doing good."

"But he's not the Boy-Who-Lived," said Blaise. He didn't look at me, only kept at his work. "He didn't defeat Voldemort with the _Disarming Jinx._ He was there, but he might as well have been a non-presence. But _you._ Harry," and he sighed a little. "What you did was rightly impossible, and to make it possible, people had to be creative. Do you know that there's a rumour that you were being trained by Dumbledore's ghost while you had disappeared?"

I snorted at that.

"It's crazy," he said. "But had I not gone to school with you, I might have believed it. But then, sometimes it's hard _not_ believing it. Harry kills our teacher who was possessed by Voldemort, Harry fights a _Basilisk_ and survive, he fights Dementors and Death Eaters. He successfully infiltrates the _Department of Mysteries._ He does all that and then he kills Voldemort with a _Disarming Jinx_ of all things."

He shook his head. "Every age has their prodigy. Dumbledore. Voldemort for his age. Maybe Mad-Eye Moody. We have _you._ People will react to that."

I let a long drawn out sigh. "Fuck me. This is going to happen isn't it?"

"Most likely," he said. "Which means you need to be prepared, and one of the first things you need to understand is image. Fudge, for all his faults, understood it well. He knew how to make people think what he wanted them to think. He even successfully got people to turn against you and Dumbledore, a feat that should have been nigh impossible to accomplish."

"But that was just using fear," I said.

"And that's part and parcel of it," said Blaise. "You use what people are feeling, how people _are_ to get them to act the way you want them to act." I frowned. He'd caught it. "It might go against your Gryffindor nature, but that's how you'll need to play things, always with the knowledge that you're no longer representing just _you_ but the Wizarding World."

I sighed again.

"It might help that you not keep sighing," he said. "Sends the image of petulance."

"You mean I should act more like you?" I said. "Cold and implacable?"

"That would be the worst thing," said Blaise. "Cold and implacable doesn't win you anyone but the smart people."

I snorted at that, muttering something about checking his ego. He ignored that.

"Be you, just not the childish parts of you. Not the more impulsive parts of you. Be like Ron, except without the tunnel vision he showed during things in Belfast; be like Hermione, except without the indecision that might plague her when she's under stress; be like me, calculating and looking at the greater image. Be everyone's best parts, including _your_ best parts."

"That's easier said than done," I said.

Blaise hummed. "True. I've watched it often enough. People say they're going to change but when it actually comes to doing it's another matter. They don't try as hard or they fail and just choose the easier option, say their flaws give them character. When in truth it's because they can't change."

The words hit a little close to the chest. I'd told myself I would change, that I'd be tempered, but when it counted I was still the same impulsive Harry. I thought about the people that had died in my fight with Hellscape, all because I hadn't thought before the matter, considered that the first thing I should have done was pull everyone out.

 _People keep dying because of the mistakes I'm making,_ I thought. _And I'm not changing. I keep falling back on them. When is it going to reach the point where that will sink into my head? Will it ever?_

"Do people change?" I asked.

Blaise looked up, pursing his lips before he said, "In my experience, no. They act. They hide. But they're still the people they always were. But then, I have a limited experience."

That didn't help things at all.

"But you did," I said. "You're not as you were at school."

"You mean I'm not a purist?" he said. I shrugged. "I never was. I was in Slytherin and I put on the role. When I saw that Voldemort was winning I prepared myself for that future. When he didn't, I put myself in another role, this one."

"That makes you sound like a sociopath," I said.

Blaise shrugged. "I might be," he said. "Wizards aren't exactly cognizant to that sort of thing."

Then he returned to his work while I just stared at him. How was I supposed to react to that? How was I supposed to deal with that moving forward? How was I supposed to know the person Blaise was when he spoke about roles like that?

I stayed quiet, trying to put it all together, everything he'd told me. It was good advice, even if it came from a possible sociopath, but then it was geared towards his strengths, wasn't it? Cannibalising everyone, forming a role, an image that I put up to the world.

But it was good advice.

I started to sigh but I stopped it. I wanted to run my hands through my hair, but I stopped that too, it reminded me of my Dad and the image _he'd_ put up as this cool-kid figure. I hadn't liked it, still didn't like it because it hadn't seemed genuine. But I'd still done it unconsciously, to the point that I could _feel_ it every time I wanted to do so.

Could I do the same thing with everything else? Work at it until it was near automatic?

Should I do it? It was to help people after all, even if it would mean losing myself in the process.

Another sigh tried to form but I swallowed it. I caught the glimmer of a smile on Blaise's lips. I wanted to glare, to scowl, but then I remembered Kingsley, easing my features so they were softer without being implacable.

 _This will be to help people,_ I told myself. _This is all to help people._

"How are we moving forward?" I said. My arms were now down and the man was going through the measurements of my legs.

"America's the best avenue to work towards," he said. "Everything is too close to the chest in the United Kingdom. People felt the Flock and they are still trying to deal with it. Still trying to figure the reality of everything. They'll be on uneven footing while we work. But I want us to leave things amicable, here. This is where we landed and the place we're best suited to building the anchor."

"We'll need to get started on protective enchantments on that front," I said. "The really good ones really take time to set."

"That's if people actually agree to us being here," said Blaise, "and that's if the public isn't in a panic."

There was a pop and Terry appeared, holding a stack of more papers. Blaise looked in his direction.

"Little reading on Accord and his a parahuman based in the American city of Boston," said Terry. "He's a villain and he's characterised for make grand plans, that, when you look at them in detail, require a lot of bad things to be done."

"Is this true?" I asked.

"He has us use the Imperius Curse a lot," said Terry. "On anyone from a diplomat that might get in our way to the powerful villains that don't often attend Endbringer fights."

"Useless, then?" said Blaise.

"Some of it is useful," said Terry. "How we might be of use with the Endbringers, the direction we could turn the prototype that Harry had been working on."

"Only that?" I said. Terry nodded. "Make a note to tell the Prime Thinkers that they might have a leak in their department." But then, with their powers it was possible that whatever leak they had would be hard to find, if they didn't already know it had had _let_ it continue.

Terry gave a nod.

"How do the plans fit into what we we're already trying to do?" said Blaise.

"About the same direction," he said. "Outfitting people that are likely attend Endbringer fights with protection, enabling faster travel towards cities being attacked, that sort of thing."

Blaise nodded. "Then we'll do that," he said. "I—"

He stopped as a tiger appeared and, in Seamus' voice, spoke, "Bethany called. We've got six hours before the video is released. Dragon tries to stop it but it doesn't work."

Blaise let out a long sigh.

"Don't sigh, Blaise," I said and I was grinning. "It makes you sound petulant."

He scowled in my direction.

888

I didn't have a bespoke suit, but Blaise had done his best to make me look presentable. The suit was the sort that plebs like me usually bought, the sort that you bought off the rack and had a tendency to not fight. But he'd altered it as much as he could without being a seamstress and it looked good on me, all things considered.

I didn't know if this would be true if I was looked at by people with enhanced senses, but it was the best that we could do.

"Where to?" I said.

"New York," said Blaise, Terry, Archie and Susan were with him. We all grabbed the Portkey and then we were gone, appearing a moment later in front of a large building, Legend already waiting for us. There were the clicks of cameras from behind us at the sudden appearance, and I could see a few photographers coming alive. They'd probably been taking pictures of Legend.

Legend smiled. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you," he said.

"Likewise," said Blaise, he moved forward, extending a hand and Legend took it. I could hear more clicks behind us, a show we'd put on, making Legend wait the small amount of time enough that the crowd could gather. "The others should be—"

There were flashes of light, three in total and then there were more paras: Sirs Kay and Bors, and Dame Percival in her armour; the Kings of Clubs and Wands, and Queen of Spades; and the Black Knight of the Queen's Guard.

Alexandria and Eidolon appeared overhead, landing and coming to a stand at either side of Legend. Another figure, one I hadn't been expecting, followed soon after, Myrddin, dressed in robes and carrying a long staff. He landed beside the Triumvirate, Legend shot him a look but I got the sense from the man that he wasn't about to miss something like this.

"Shall we, then?" said Legend, and with that we walked into New York's Protectorate headquarters.

888

"If we're asked," said Alexandria. "We will say these are Endbringer talks, especially with an attack being so imminent."

"Helped by the fact that the show was good," said Myrddin. I got the sense that he was smiling, even with the dark cast that the hood of his cloak set. _"Wizards,"_ he said. "I'd thought I might be the only one."

"I take offense, Myrddin," said the King of Wands.

"Not the time," said Legend, though I caught the edge of a smile. "We have…" He glanced at a watch. "Two hours fifteen minutes before the video is released and the public knows. People will suspect that this was a show."

"People will suspect a lot of things," said Sir Bors. "But that suspicious will wane soon enough. It shouldn't be something we focus overly on."

The King of Clubs snorted at that. "Really?" he muttered. "I'd thought you'd prefer using the public. Especially where past action is concerned."

Hard feeling, no doubt. People had died because of the interplay of powers, even if it wasn't entirely their fault, it didn't mean anything to the Suits who'd lost people.

"Suppose it's best we say this now before it's used to blackmail us in the future," said Sir Bors. "We killed the Suits. It was impulsive but then things were chaotic. We were prepared to kill Mr Potter, prepared for war if it could make us come up ahead, but after he escaped we had time to think and thus we discredited his Gwydion persona. Burning bridges, sure, but we still can ahead in a minor way."

"Fuck," said Myrddin. _"Fuck."_

"You could have had more tact," said Dame Percival. Sir Bors shrugged. I remembered what Merlin had said, he took the shortest course through an action. I'd seen it when he'd attacked me, how he'd formed an idea of what he wanted to do and had not been willing to think otherwise.

"Is the possibility that this would happen again?" said Alexandria. Legend, Myrddin and the King of Clubs gave her a look, some of them surprised.

"No," said Sir Kay. "Lord Walston has tempered the effect of my ability."

"And there are no hard feeling on your end, Mr Potter?" she said. "There's no risk that something stupid on all counts might come from this?"

I shook my head. "All's forgiven so long as Aiden and Brody stay out of it," I said. "Terms that have already been agreed to."

She didn't say anything to the Suits, but then they weren't her concerned. The King's Men and the Suits would have to deal with their own troubles. It gave me a little of an idea of who Alexandria was, who Legend, Eidolon and Myrddin were by how they were sitting, the little I could see from their expression.

"People are going to be looking at your group under a microscope," Alexandria explained. "They'll be expecting the worst and they'll use any evidence they can to better form that image. They'll likely paint you as invaders, point to your master ability as a good starting point. We need to dissuade them of that image. Which means our groups working closely together to promote a better narrative."

"No consequences is what you mean?" said the King of Clubs. "We should just accept that they killed our people and that they're not to going to pay for that in any way, shape or form?"

"What consequences are you suggesting?" Dame Percival asked. "The truth coming out? Us being arrested? We don't need a thinker to know that that would turn out badly for everyone involved. The narrative has already been set and it won't be an easy thing to dislodge."

"The footage that will come out will say otherwise," said the Queen of Spades. "How do you think they'll show that Mr Potter is from another world? Only Herald and _his_ word?" She shook her head. "People are used to magi-parahumans. They know it's a farce." Myrddin shifted and the King of Wands gave her a dry look. "They play along because it's fun. This is morbid, but they'll revert to what they know. These are just parahumans who believe themselves to be witches from another world and nothing more, and they're playing that up to Herald. Your words will be the credibility they need. They have video of your confession, I'm sure of it."

"We're moving away from the point," said Alexandria.

"We're not," said the Queen of Spades. "We're showing that there can still be consequences even while working towards the end goal. You were mastered, own up to it, admit it so that it doesn't happen again. Lord Walston would likely reverse the effect if asked, but Sir Kay gets arrested for his crimes."

"I think," said Sir Kay. "This would have been business we should have discussed on our own. If you'd accepted the request at a meeting—"

"No," said the King of Clubs. "Let's air the dirty laundry. Your organisation is shit, the more people that know about it, the better."

"Stupidity and passion," said Sir Bors.

"Says the man that was willing to risk a war," the King of Clubs countered. "All for what? Because he wanted to keep his _master_ safe?"

There was quiet after those words, though the King of Clubs was breathing a little harder. He was angry and he was trying to keep it in, I could see, but it wasn't working. Too close to the surface, all of it, and the King's Men weren't exactly showing guilt for what they'd done.

Sir Kay sighed. "Lord Walston is the reason, in part, that this happened," he said. That garnered a reaction from the King's Men, mainly disbelief from those expression I could read.

"Lie if ever I've heard one," said the King of Clubs.

"No," Alexandria and I said at about the same time. She looked at me and deferred.

"Lord Walston told me this. He said that he did it without the King's Men knowing, that he magnified what Sir Kay's ability was doing so that the team wouldn't break apart because of the stress. That he didn't check on the effect and that was probably the cause for what they did."

"Any reason _why_ he'd do this?" asked the Queen of Spades.

"He said teams often break apart, that the same was starting to happen to the King's Men and he wanted to stop it," I said. "He did. The members they had at that date have stuck it through even with _everything._ The Knights, the Mad Hatter, Makhai, Splice and the Puppeteer. I checked and the only person who entered the group in the time Lord Walston wasn't paying attention were Merlin and Cygnus. One left and the other…knew about the effect and was countering it. I don't think that would have been possible if Lord Walston were the cause."

"That paints an ugly picture," said Legend, sounding disconcerted.

For the first time, the Black Knight spoke, his voice booming. "The American government will not interfere with the workings of the United Kingdom," he said. "We are aware of your shadow unit."

The King of Clubs glared in his direction. "Good to know where Her Majesty's priorities lie," he muttered rather loudly.

The Black Knight said nothing. Legend let out a short sigh. "With that in mind, we should discuss the future. Controlling this, turning the narrative."

"We'll admit that we were mastered by Herald," said Sir Kay. "We'll put it forward that Mr Potter tried to undo the spells and we were under automatic orders to stop him at all costs. We've been fighting the Enlightened long enough that people are likely to accept it. It'll mean that we might suffer, but it makes things better fall in line."

Blaise nodded. "We've already discussed this with the King's Men," he said. He hadn't told me, but I schooled my features. Not that it surprised me in the least. I didn't know enough to get involved in the minutia of it all and I didn't want to.

"Herald starting this game is going to seem like he was protecting his investments," he continued. "When he saw that this wouldn't be achievable, he spread it out further so that the _we_ might fall under the master effect which is the Simurgh."

"Dangerous," said Eidolon. "The Simurgh is the most intelligent of the Endbringers. This might seem like you're egging them on."

"It's true, though," said Terry. "The Simurgh is most likely after us with the degree of power I've read she has. Herald, from files we've been allowed access, first appeared during a Simurgh attack."

"Correlation doesn't mean causation," said Alexandria. "Coincidence still exists."

"Does that really apply when you're dealing with seers?" I said.

"The better question," said Blaise. "Does it matter where the public is concerned? The deception by the King's Men, as we heard, was likely known by all, it was known by the Protectorate and the PRT enough that they were already having discussions on how to deal with us and the villains that matter. The same will be true here. Is the public really a factor?"

"That's the dangerous sort of question to ask," said Myrddin. "We're, after all, doing all of this to protect the public."

"I meant in regard to the dealings of the Simurgh," Blaise quickly said. "The amount of information the greater world knows is limited. They make a lot of inferences some of which aren't true. Something like this is likely not to be out of the ordinary."

"What do the Prime Thinker think about this?" said the Queen of Spades.

"Good," Blaise answered.

"Eidolon?" said Alexandria.

The man was quiet for a long moment before he said, "Magenta."

"Good enough," said Alexandria. "The public dealt with, what about the villains?" I quirked a brow and she must have noticed because she went on. "They'll escalate because of both your presence and the scale with which you fight. They'll increasingly push their power because they're afraid the Flock might descend upon them without warning."

"You mean non-action," I said. "We don't get involved in the dealings between heroes and villains."

Alexandria nodded. "It's better if this was spread out across the entire world," she said. "There will be various groups who don't like your presence, they might be put at ease if they knew your involvement starts and ends with the Endbringers."

"And those that attack us for any reason," Blaise put in.

"Of course," said Alexandria. "That will be implicit in the narrative. Setting a clear case of black and white. Attacking you in any way means siding with the Endbringers."

"If you think it will work," said Blaise, "then we're prepared to accept this."

Alexandria nodded. She reached into her side and pulled out a phone. "I think that's the backbones of this done," she said. "I'll assume that you've already started seeding your idea?" Sir Kay nodded. "Then give us fifteen minutes to sort things on our end and we can get this phase started before we start talking about relations."

She stood and we stayed. The others would be chafing to move, but there was a greater image to be considered. We needed to look united even with everything that had happened.

888

I stood in front of a sea of journalists. It was late afternoon and in the small amount of time since the call they'd quickly come. I felt a little nervous, to be at the front of it all, but since I was at the front of this all, _this_ was important.

Legend stood a little in front of me and he was speaking, "…ago. We've been in talks for the last while and, even with the villains that have tried to bar our path, things have started to set. It is with a pleasure then, that I introduce you to Harry Potter."

I stepped a little forward, smiling a little as flashes of light went off in front of me.

"Thank you, Legend," I said. I moved to stand in front of a growth of microphones. I felt the urge to let out a breath and held it back, instead I pulled forward happy memories and smiled, doing my best to project confidence even though this wasn't my battleground.

"I represent a the Allied Group for the Advancement of Wizardkind," I said. "Multiversal travellers that were hoping to open interdimensional communication between neighbours. I landed here over three weeks ago, making contact with the King's Men and hoping to learn some of your laws so that we might have a good neighbourly relationship.

"It was in this period that I learnt of the dynamics of this world, more especially of the threat you call the Endbringers." I swallowed, took a breath. "My world doesn't have any of these threats nor anything on a similar scale, and the knowledge that an entire world's population was under the degree of stress that something on this scale might cause, I couldn't stop myself but pull resources in so that I may help.

"Through an identity the King's Men saw fitting, Gwydion, I learned of the power dynamics of this world. Testing myself against so that, in abstract, I could form an image of the threat that the Endbringers command through studying the naturally forming powers in some of your world's population. Using this identity and the information gathered, my group and I have started forming artefact your world calls 'tinker tech' that might help mitigate the damage caused by the Endbringers. Automated shield, teleportation devices which will be outfitted to Endbringer attack participants and other such artefacts.

"However, almost a day ago, a villain who calls himself Herald attacked my group, forced us in a place where we could likely not act or our the timetable set might be extended, missing the next Endbringer fight. But this did not succeed, the villain and his group, the Enlightened, have been apprehended, the master effects he'd layered are being reversed and we're in the process of meeting more heroes that will help us form a better plan for the next attack.

"I hope, neighbours, that the power we can bring to bear might help you. I hope that, when the Endbringers next attack, they will fear the power of a united humanity. I hope that this heavy burden will be taken off your shoulders.

"Thank you," I said and turned as a cacophony started. Alexandria took up the stage, silence descend as she started talking about the plan for the next week.

Hopefully people wouldn't panic now when the footage got out.

888

AN: Not good at writing speeches, so the last section might be a little cringeworthy. I'll get better.


	14. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"You know," he said, his voice lazy though I could detect a tight edge behind it. He was try to lean with a sense of disregard against a wall in the alley but he was failing; his costume was too tight and I could read him quite clearly from his body language.

"We heavily frown on people who step too far over the line," Flashpoint continued. "FYI, this is leaping over the line with a parahuman jumping ability."

"Is that an actual thing?" I said. I caught the twist at the corner of his mouth. It could be nothing but confusion. "Parahuman leaping ability?"

He shrugged. "We come in all flavours," he said. "Now, what can I do for you Mr Alien?"

"Good," I said. "You've watched the news. Then you know what my group and the various parahumans across the world are trying to do."

"Fight Endbringers," he said. "I've been keeping an eye on PHO. From what I'm seeing, they don't have much faith in you."

"Do you?" I asked.

He shrugged again. "These are the Endbringers we're talking about," he said. "Only Allah knows of the foreseen, further even than the thinkers. This could all be for nought. The Triumvirate's faith in you could result in nothing."

I let out a breath. I wasn't good at this, trying to persuade someone to my side but there was too much to coordinate in an unknown timetable.

"Does that mean you're not going to fight, then?" I said. "You might be heavily needed depending on which of them shows up."

He raised a brow at that. He extended his hand and a made the gun gesture. "I've been banned," he said. "I'm very bad at control."

"My group is verygood at control," I said.

Flashpoint shrugged. "Maybe this is Allah finally giving us reprieve from them," he said. He let out a breath. "Fine. I'll be there when you need me to."

I grinned and then reached into my pocket, pulling out three things: The first two were a quill and a piece of cursed parchment, both of which took to the air and floated slightly in front of Flashpoint, and the third was a necklace.

"I'm your first," he said to me.

I nodded. "If it's Leviathan that we'll be fighting, then you'll be our best bet," I said. "Took a little bit finding you, but that was needed, factoring in how reclusive you are…"

"I get it," he said. He took the quill. "Why do I need to sign this?"

"Parchment is cursed," I said. "It'll make it so that there's a penalty if you try to take this," and I gestured to a necklace, "to a tinker so they might study it. Don't worry, it doesn't activate if it's stolen, there are automatic protections on it that ensure that that doesn't happen."

"Is the paper some kind of tinker tech?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Magic," I said. "If you would sign? I still have other people to get too. I apologise for the curtness."

"Not a problem," he said. "You're likely to be busy." He started to sign when he stopped. He looked at me. "You didn't get your powers from a deal with the devil, right?" he said. I shook my head. "And this isn't some kind of deal with the devil?"

I shook my head. "It's all above board."

He let go of the parchment and then stepped back. "I'm suddenly remembering everything they're saying about you. That you're a master, that you might have been trying to get at those UK Protectorate—"

"The King's Men," I corrected.

"Yeah. Whatever. This could be you trying to master me," he said. "Should I take the chance?"

I frowned before I said, "Have you watched the video? Between my group and the Enlightened?" He nodded. "What did Ron, the red head, do to get Dogoba under control?"

"Point his…wand," he said. He took the quill and started signing. "You guys are on another level of scary," he said. "But a part of me wants to agree with PHO, that a few measly birds aren't going to do much against any of _them_. But if Solar Wind can do what he did with those birds on a large scale, then we might have a fighting chance. At any point, Allah has set the path that is best, perhaps this is part to play in it all."

I nodded at that. I took the parchment and quill, pushing them in my pocket before handing over the necklace.

"We don't know when they'll attack next," I said. "There's a tinker that's working on that, might make it so that we can, but that's not a given without testing. Keep your costume on hand because that necklace could give you two to ten minutes to put things on depending on how fast we need you. Or it might not need you at all if it's Behemoth."

"I'll make a note of that," he said. "See you, Gwydion."

I nodded and watched as he left. He was _one_ person in a veritable list that we, as the Group, still had to get through. I was lucky that he was a mercenary, which meant he skirted the edges of hero and villain. He could have asked for money and I might have thought about giving it to him, but then, these were the Endbringers and _everyone_ had a stake in their disposal.

The next target was still in Anchorage though she might slightly be harder to find with her ability. I watched as Flashpoint started running, used a wall as a stepping point before taking holding of the receding stairs of a fire escape. As he disappeared over a rooftop, I pulled out my Cloak and covered myself, pulling out the compass from my pocket: I tapped it, muttering the Patronus Charm under my breath and envisioning the person I wanted.

Periastron.

The compass began to spin, the image within starting to zoom out so as to reveal the greater city around me. I concentrated on my vision, pushing more of the power of the spell in the direction and the minute image beneath me became clearer. I turned on the spot and I was on a rooftop, looked in the direction I was supposed to go and then started Apparating.

It wasn't much later that I was stopping in front of a posh looking hotel. The image in the compass moved again, gaining more dimensions and the compass point titling slightly upwards, pointing at the seventh floor. I Apparated to the rooftop of the neighbouring building and then sent out a Patronus, knowing the rough direction of the woman helped, from there on I could trust magic to know the specifics of her location.

I waited a total of five minutes, checking the compass to see she wasn't running, before she appeared: It was early evening but she was dressed in sleeping robes, the expensive kind. She looking a little tussled, with a glow about her and an elation that radiated off of her, a confidence that I thought might be a power but I knew it wasn't on the files.

She walked forward and exited onto her balcony. I pulled off my cloak and as she scanned the city below her, she caught sight of me when she glanced slightly up. I turned on the spot and I was beside her.

"Mr Potter," she said, a small smile on her, of one that had a secret and was just waiting to tell it. "You're here."

"I'm recruiting," I said. There was a sound in her room and I caught movement. I reflectively moved to look, seeing a man that was hurriedly putting on his clothes, I recognised him from an image I'd seen on the news, him standing with his family and smiling.

I pushed that out of mind. The man looked to be leaving at any rate. When I truly looked back at Periastron she was studying me, her look now of total glee. Part of her ability, things tended to go in her favour. I didn't know how, but this entire thing was likely one step in a set of events that might give her more money or influence.

Another fact I pushed out of my.

"A thinker like me?" she said. "I don't think I'd be much use in an Endbringer fight."

"You're lucky," I said. "We need luck." I shrugged. "And your ability might work to give you an advantage out of all of this."

She pouted. "Such would be in violation of the Endbringer truce," she said. "Liable to get me more trouble than I'm willing to fight against."

"Your ability is subtle," I said. "And you can't turn it off. I'm sure you'll be forgiven for that."

"Likely," she said. "I wonder if I might think about it?" she said. "I'd be putting my life on the line. It's worth a little consideration."

I nodded and pulled out a card, handing it over. "Tear that in half if you want to get my attention," I said. She took it. "And know that it won't work if you're in danger. So don't think to call me if you're strapped in a fight and seek a way out."

"I would do nothing of the sort," she lied, not even hiding it or looking guilty. When I looked at her, I got the image of someone who'd gotten their way for so long that they expected nothing else from life. We hadn't spoken all that long for me to really know where this came from, and I had to assume that I was pulling back because she was a villain.

That wouldn't do with what we were trying to achieve. I took a breath and pushed down the feeling, focusing on the thread of emotion and dulling it. It didn't help in the now, it would need to be something I thought about later so that I could give it less power.

"I'll be off then," I said. I donned the Cloak and turned on the spot, appearing on a rooftop and going through my mental inventory of the people that I still had to visit before the morning was done.

There were still the Gold Coins in Anchorage I could tap for our numbers, but what I'd been allowed to read on them didn't give me too much to work with. Another Patronus Charm and the Compass pulled back, showing me the greater scenery of Canada before I turned on the spot.

888

"We have a castle," I said as I looked at the castle. There were drones in the sky, large and blocky things that were ugly against the memory of the more streamlined drones Vantage had created.

"A gift from the Toybox," said Susan. "We have something of a trail on Merlin and her group. They used the Toybox dimension to skip out of town without being seen, bought some supplies and then skipped over to South America."

"Are we following?" I said.

Susan made a so-so gesture. "We have people trying to talk to the parahumans thereabout in joining the next battle. We'll also be using the time to gather intel on any places that they might be using to hide."

I nodded, watching as the drone continued to work. It had a large back that was a solid cube. The back would vibrate at times, glowing different colours before spitting out different grades of materials. Smaller drones would move close to this amorphous glob and start working it, pushing and pulling to form something that melded with the greater mass.

"Tinkers," I said. "They could use this to watch us."

"Magic could likely keep them away," said Susan. "But we also had them sign contracts that they couldn't and wouldn't, if they thought of an avenue, use this building to watch or hurt us in anyway. It should, for all intents and purposes, be a building."

I nodded and we watched. The cube vibrated and then glowed before spitting out a molten glass. The smaller drones got close, capturing the pieces, some vibrating and causing the glass to cool and change colour; some shattered the glass and then reformed it, making the edges molten and sticking them together in a mosaic.

"This is magic, right?" said Susan. She looked at me. "I've watched muggles building houses and it's not like this. Even high rises. This is magic, _slower_ but magic nonetheless."

I gave a small smile. "I think they think the same thing when they look at us," I said. "That we're just parahumans, that what we do ignores science like their powers do."

Susan hummed. "Its things like those that make both sides harder to fight," she said. "When I was fighting Merlin and Terminus. I kept looking for something familiar, a specialisation that I could counter and then use it to culminate in victory, but that wasn't there. Instead I watched as they kept doing different things when I thought I was secure, but they did it faster."

"I think tinkers are the hard ones," I said, "and trumps."

I thought of Hellscape and his weird ability, of Gelatinous and how he could undo my abilities, and Dame Percival and Eidolon who were powers in their own right. Dame Percival was even in a wheelchair now after breaking her legs, but her para persona didn't have the same affliction, all because of the suit she'd created.

"They're like wizards in how broad their abilities are, but you can't really tell what they're going to do because they're not as obvious as we are," I said. "But, I've noticed, they have weakness, routes that limit their abilities."

"And everyone else?" said Susan.

I shrugged. "Just figure out what they do and think of a counter," I said. "In other places it's easier, some people fully display what they can do. It's only cause we've fought people that hide or deceive about their abilities that we had as much trouble as we did."

Susan hummed. "We'll be doing something like that again," she said. "We'll have resources, sure, and a lot of them. But from the way these people speak about them, I have a feeling that even with our numbers it won't be easy."

I nodded at that, feeling the unease in my stomach. I was scared and also a little excited, thinking about the fight, being in the middle of it all. But then I stopped, because, I remembered, I was trying to change, and it would be a Harry Potter thing to do to not consider before stepping into battle with the Endbringers.

"Have the others returned?" I said.

Susan nodded. "In the warded centre," she said. "Working on the anchor. Blaise returned from the Yangban and they said they weren't going to join, there are too many people and their formations might get in the way. We've got some of the Saltykovkava Bratva to help us, but it won't be all of them, unless we're prepared to help them regain ground that's been taken during an Endbringer fight.

"Tuurngait said yes, so did the Meisters, the Kommanders, a member of the Adepts called Epoch, he said he wanted to spend a day shadowing us for participation. The Toybox has offered their help and advanced machinery if they're allowed to look over some of the stuff we've been building."

I tried to envision Blaise. "Royalties been worked out?" I asked.

"Same system that we'll be using for Dragon and the Guild except at a higher price because they're neutral and they ask a higher price for the stuff that they buy." I gave a short nod. "We asked the Hot and Cold capes, but only the Hot replied. They'll be help in terms of numbers but the general consensus is that their powers aren't good for that final punch. We're working through a way of barring word and perception of the Cold capes if they fight, but that will be for future considerations."

"At some point we'll really need the full Group working on this," I said. "Maybe the Department of Mysteries too if we phrase this right. They've got a lot of stuff that they're hiding that might be helpful." I gave Susan a pointed look.

She said nothing. The Spooks were under different spells, but they were essentially Unspeakables of a more active nature. I didn't know half the things that happened in the shadows of the Wizarding World, and I doubted I wanted to know, but Susan, Seamus, Archie and Freddie most definitely would, and they wouldn't be able to say anything about it.

With all that, I doubted that Susan didn't at least know some of the toys that the Department of Mysteries.

"Become Minister and you could have access," she said. "Or head the Wizengamot."

I snorted at that. "That's unlikely," I said. "I don't have a good relationship with any of those people there. I think if I tried, I'd be booted out. You could though. You have influence, through…"

"I'd rather not coast on my Aunt's coattails," she said, voice terse. She took a breath and when it was let out, her words were softer as she said, "I want to achieve success on my own. Work hard and the get those rewards."

"I can get that," I said.

She hummed, but there was something there, a cadence to it I didn't quite like. I gave her a look, but he ignored me, instead looking at the castle that was still being created. The large drone was now starting to break apart into smaller drones, all of which were grabbing portions of the tube and flying inside. It took less than five minutes before the sky was empty of the large drone and all of them were inside.

I let out a sigh. "Dispatch here, yet?" I asked.

Susan gestured with her head towards the common tent. Building a Fidelius Charm would normally take me a week to complete, taking into account rest times, then with the Unplottability and Untraceability this would be a week and two days. But with Dispatch's help, this would be cut down considerably.

The man was in costume, taking the last sip of his coffee as I entered.

"Shall we get started, then?" I said, tapping my face with my wand and putting on a Bubble Head Charm.

888

The days and nights were starting to bleed into the other with just how much there was to do. It took me three days before I had completed the enchantments on my end. It might have taken a few hours sooner to complete the Fidelius Charm but I'd had to tweak it so that it could hold more than one person as the Secret Keeper: Hermione and Alexandria.

The former because she'd decided not to take an active role in any future fighting, while still being able to protect herself better than Andrew or Terry, and the latter because she was one of the parahumans on Earth Bet that were effectively immortal. With the variation on the Fidelius Charm, it meant that things could be more open between our worlds, with dual authorisation being needed before everyone was allowed in on the secret.

"In front of you are the grounds to the anchor between Earths Bet and Dalet," said Alexandria. Hermione repeated a similar phrase before the now completed castle revealed itself: Statuesque and with an age about it, it was made of a grey stone that had chips and cracks, class windows that brought with them a wash of colour.

"Are we done with the tents, then?" said Elsa.

Seamus shook his head. "Not until we get the place furnished and expanded," he said. "It'll be a hub if things go well on our end. It needs to be vastly bigger."

"Which means experienced hands," Andrew put in. "If this place isn't considered appropriately. Then we might have a place similar to Hogwarts."

"Please don't tell me you're not going to badmouth Hogwarts," I said.

"No," said Andrew. "I would never. Hogwarts is a magical marvel. But it's too, cluttered, which makes it seem chaotic. Compare that to the Ministry of Magic and how it is, it has about the same growth as Hogwarts, but it's more ordered."

"That has more to do with the people though," said Hermione. "Adults versus kids. It'll rub off on the place. It might rub off on here too given enough time. Or very quickly if it's like the Angelica."

Andrew shook his head. "Unlikely to happen," he said. "So long as we get people that understand what they're doing, there's no chance of something like that happening."

"Before this goes on, let's be reminded that we have our various duties," said Seamus.

Then there were the talks between groups. We didn't know which Endbringer would attack between Leviathan and Behemoth, but there was almost a hope that it might be Leviathan. Behemoth was an easier target but we didn't know if the Unforgivable Curses would work on them and he would be harder to contain. But we were making plans.

Shields and Portkeys, drawing up battle strategies with an image of the Endbringer we might fight in the future. We couldn't discuss this with our fighters, but the most important people to the plan were being brought to the talks: Flashpoint. Dispatch. Clockblocker. Fletchette. Chevalier.

Where Dragon and the Guild were concerned things were a little harder. Her power, she explained, was to replicate tinker technology, but it didn't work towards innovation, which meant she couldn't decipher magic on her own. They'd gotten another parahuman, a Japanese man by the name of Masamune, but he was along the same route. His power was being able to build systems that could mass produce tinker technology, but again, this was magic. Which meant the need for a third tinker.

Armsmaster had been the go-to, but the man had a city to look after and, even above that, he was working on software that might be able to give us the location of an attack before they happened. If he completed the software before the next attack, then it would help us coordinate with our forces all in one place.

For the time being, we had to rely on an ambiguous group that were heroes in some sense and villains in the other: The Elite. They had a tinker who was a little like Vantage in that he could make drones, but where she mainly made areal drones, his were stuck on the ground. Clunky things that often looked like spiders and tanks.

Much like Vantage he was versatile, which meant there was a greater chance that he could act as the intermediary until the much _less_ restrained Armsmaster could work with Dragon fulltime.

Then there were Merlin and her troupe.

"She escaped," said Archie. "Even cloaked they could detect us with our their thinkers."

I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair. _Thinkers_ and we were facing two that could counter our tries to getting them. After much discussion with the Suits and the dangers that the Knave of Hearts could bring, the full lengths of her abilities had been revealed to us: She could see the abstract connections that existed between people over a large range. With her ability, she would be watching the interaction between wherever she was and how they would be riled up by our intrusion.

"We're planning on not using Cloaking," said Archie. "Instead we'll just go in invisible, watch, not attack."

Because of Rapture, the thinker of the Happy Fun Time Gang. He could see the future in some capability and if we attacked and won, then he'd see us and force the others to move.

I reached into my pockets and pulled out my own Cloak, giving it to Archie.

"This might help," I said. He frowned, but he didn't say anything. It was one of the Hollows. I still didn't know what that meant beyond that the Cloak could last forever, but whatever minor advantage there was it could give, it didn't hurt to give it.

I moved on to the rest of my tasks. A run with Elsa, then broom training and the dodging training…

"These things are too fast," she said, she was breathing hard, hands at her knees and her clothes submerged in sweat; half her face was swollen, her eyes puffy.

"You're doing it wrong," I said. "You're looking for the spell bolt instead of watching the wand. Look at its motion, read it, watch where a spell ends and then dodge. Because once a particular motion is done I can't correct my aim."

"You're moving too fast, too," she said. "It looks too fast and a little too ridicul…You can? Then why didn't you _fucking_ tell me?"

The Crooked Man whispered.

"Fuck you!" she said. "Help me. Isn't that your entire deal?"

The Crooked Man whispered.

"Fine," she said and she sounded tired. "Fine. But at least give me the training wheels before I have to do stuff on my own."

The Crooked Man whispered.

Elsa nodded and then stood. "Let's go again," she said. I nodded and moved, going the long route of the Stinging Hex, doing away with all the wand motions I'd stripped from it through repeated use. She thought I was going hard on her, but this was me going as easy as I could without stretching out her training.

The hex flew out and Elsa was already dodging, running to the side. She successfully dodged the hex only to hiss as she was struck by another, through all this the Crooked Man whispered. We went on for five minutes before she was too tired to go on.

"Elsa," said. "Do you mind if I train with the Crooked Man? I kind of want to gauge what he can do."

"You can do that, right?" said Elsa. The Crooked Man whispered. "Then do. Don't hurt him…a lot. Hurt him a little as revenge," she said between panted breaths.

I got into a duelling stance and then waiting for the Crooked Man to move. He didn't. I fired first, three spells but he stepped to the side, bounding steps taking him forward. He moved too fast, his reach too long, but this time I had an image of how he moved. The shield came up and it stopped him, lines too thick drawing themselves out of the shield.

I turned on the spot appearing close to his left, I fired a Stunner and it landed but it didn't do anything, instead an arm struck my chest, throwing me in the air. I didn't have my shields, but my clothing had impact dampening effects: I rolled through the air, positioning myself so that I could land feet first. The impact dampening activated as I landed.

"Incendio," I said and fire spread out. The Crooked Man broke through, trying to grasp, but I hit him with the Impedimenta Jinx. He stopped short of grabbing me, giving me time to fire the Full Body Bind. It worked, the Crooked Man's arms and legs sticking together and him tipping backwards. He disappeared before he could hit the ground and appeared at Elsa's side, already starting to move towards me.

"Petrificus Totalus," I said and again the spell landed. The Crooked Man disappeared again. "Stop," I said and he did.

Unlike other times I couldn't ignore this, not like before. Magic was sometimes so broad that it was easy to push everything that wasn't in my core set of combat spells to the wayside. The Full Body Bind was a part of that, it had the connotation behind it that it was a childish jinx and one that was especially easy to counter, but on this world it had an advantage that couldn't be overlooked. It was nearly instantaneous.

Most spells had a spell bolt, they moved at set speed with them being faster and more streamlined the better the wizard or witch was at the spell. Where it could take me three minutes to conjure the more complicated birds, if I wasn't being interrupted, it might take Seamus a quick wand motion and he could add _variation_ in what his birds could do. Where other people's Expelliarmus Charm moved slower and loud on exit, mine was faster and near silent.

But even with the best work, it would take a long time before I got all my spells to the near instantaneous level of spells like the Body Bind, the Cutting Curse and most transfiguration spells. But those would pose their own problems, distance being one and the other being how complicated it was transfiguring a person.

I let out a breath. I was thinking too broadly without pinning down what I wanted.

" _We're_ done for today," I said. "Susan will want you in two hours. Hermione in thirty minutes." Elsa groaned. "Terry's gonna help you heal up before that. Take some rest."

She nodded and then moved out of the training room, mostly to her room. I followed for a time until I had to split off for my room. It was furnished, some from the bounty from the Enlightened used to make the place feel more lived in. A lot of that money had been changed to gold and it would be sent over to our world when the anchor was complete.

I went to a little desk, grabbed a pen and paper and started jotting down what I wanted. I had to think at all the threats that I might face and _now_ think about how to deal with them. Merlin and her troupe; the Fallen, another group that followed the Endbringers; and the Slaughterhouse Nine, which Herald had thought would be called to challenge us with how he'd turned the video.

The Unforgivable Curses were all well and good, but there would be more wizards and witches soon and even with our honorary Licenses to Curse, they would look down on us using curses which might lead to further bad once we returned home.

That wouldn't work. I needed to figure out what would work.

Instantaneous spells. I needed to prepare area-of-effects that would dull certain people, Apparators, runners and fliers. I needed to figure out the spells that worked on the brutes that could shrug off Stunners and offensive spells. The impact dulling armour would have to be increased for the stronger parahumans.

Tinkers and trumps were something I couldn't account for, but then they were a little easier to deal with in a respect because they were familiar. The real problem came with thinkers and strangers, the former because their abilities could be hard to wrap my head around, and the latter because they used a gap I had a very hard time closing.

I'd have to go back to learning Occlumency, put more effort this time around because it wouldn't only be Voldemort trying to get into my head but sets of abilities that would do it differently. I remembered how subtly Cynosure's ability had been, so subtle that I hadn't been able to think of anything else but _him._

 _I am weak,_ I thought. _Fooling myself into believing otherwise is folly. My detection does not cut the standard._ I took a breath. _I have to get better. I have to grow._

I reached through a drawer and started digging until I found a journal. I opened it and watched as magic worked, changing everything so that the dates fit into this world's dates.

Blaise had told me to take the best out of everyone and this was my first step towards that. I envisioned Hermione as I took my pen and started jotting down my schedule.

888

"Minister," I said.

"Harry," he said and he gave a nod. He looked more tired, but then a week had passed and as hectic as things were on this side of the multiverse, they were likely similar on the other side. "Progress report."

"Everything's going well enough," I said. Blaise sat to one side, his quill scratching silently on parchment as he looked down on more contracts that had been received from the Protectorate.

"We've established ourselves with most of the people on the up and up," I said. "Gotten ourselves into a position where we're a neutral force with a concept called the Endbringer truce protecting us. Major governments, or their facsimiles in certain places, have offered some protections if their villains come after us, but it in a few places that's limited.

"We've been creating armaments, but that's restricted in our numbers," I said. "We've also, through Blaise, gotten things so that we're starting to set our roots into the workings of this world. People are still on the fence where we're concerned, something that looks like it will ultimately be decided after an Endbringer event, but even if they react badly it's unlikely that relations will be soured with the people in charge."

Kingsley took a breath. "Good," he said. "The people that are trying to breach?"

"Still eluding us," I said. "We were close, but their abilities make them hard to successfully catch. The Spooks are working towards that particular end."

"We haven't been offered help?" asked Kingsley.

"We have," I returned. "The right thinkers are watching, shadow units keeping an eye out. We think they may be going to more chaotic places where we can't rely on governments to keep an eye out for us. We've talked to a few groups and they're prepared to establish a unit of parahumans to look into this matter, but that can only be—" The door opened, Elsa stepping through."—done after the Endbringer event."

"Of course," Kingsley muttered. He looked towards Elsa. "Looks like you might have something to deal with. I'll leave you to it."

I nodded and the image blinked off. I looked towards Elsa.

"A Flock is over Iceland," she said. "It wasn't too large at first, but it's steadily getting larger. People think you're attacking."

"Merlin," I muttered in frustration.

"How are people reacting?" said Blaise.

"Mixed," she said. "People are saying this is sign that you guys might be invaders, but there are other people posting about how the birds saved them. There's even a guy who works in the Police Department and he says most of the people who've been attacked have been partway through a crime."

"That's good," I said.

"Not all of it," Elsa quickly said. "It's all crime. Jay walking and then you're attacked by birds, hitting and then binding you; driving while texting and it's the same thing."

"The spells are starting to deteriorate," I said. "They've still got their fundamental orders, but it's getting muddled. It must be from the same stock that fought the Belfast Boys."

"You'll have to deal with it," said Blaise. "Can you?"

I shrugged. "Don't know the degree of deterioration," I said. "They could have developed a sense of self-preservation and might fight me when I start vanishing them. Unlike Seamus, I can't just daisy-chain their vanishment."

Blaise stood. "We're going to have to hire people for administrative tasks," he said as he walked out. "Good work," he said to Elsa. The girl smiled a little only to quickly frown as the tablet in her hand glowed, showing a message.

"Alert from Armsmaster. Leviathan's moving towards Brockton Bay," she said.

888

AN: This chapter felt rushed, but then I couldn't really get anything done other than preparations. I could have taken my time, detailing all the processes that everyone was going through but that would be, at least subjectively, boring. Next week's chapter will most likely be long because it will be and Endbringer fight, and I'm hoping that I'll do that justice.


	15. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

"This is it," said Ron. He took a breath and rubbed his hands together before shaking them. It wasn't cold. There was a cool, salty breeze that would pass through at times; but it wasn't the sort of breeze that heralded a rubbing of hands. It was more than likely that he was trying to push away some of his excitement.

"This is it," I repeated. Ron wouldn't be fighting, which meant his excitement was different from my own. He was most likely waiting for things to come together; for Brockton Bay to be evacuate, for the surveillance drones to be let out and for his opponent to come to the fore. There would be thinkers with him, watching, but that was his fight where my would be _there._ I would though fighting wasn't exactly what I would be doing. But I would be in the thick of it all, with a thrum of activity, expecting the worst and relishing in it.

I took a breath, relishing in the minor salty tinge. I watched as people still arrived: Flashes of blue light breaking the night and people appearing. A majority came using Port Keys, groups and solo parahumans, while others Apparated using their own powers or being brought in by Apparators that could bring in a large number of people. It was a cacophony of sound and light: Blue was the loudest but there were reds and greens. There were cracks and bangs, space distorting and twisting before it unravelled, but more than anything, there was talking.

The largest gathering of parahumans, I reminded myself. People didn't know each other for the most part, but those that could transcend the international divide, had a sort of power. These people were on their own, talking among themselves with other groups keeping a wide bearing; if they were solo, then they just stood, arms crossed, looking around. More than a few of them looked towards Ron and me.

Legend cleared his throat.

"Better be going then," said Ron. He clapped me on the shoulder and said, "If there was any time to use it…"

"I get it," I said. He gave a nod and turned, disappearing with a soft pop.

"Hello," he said. When he'd cleared his throat, he'd had direction, but now he didn't, instead sounding as though he was right next to me. Jay's ability, altered by the Russian parahuman, Deva Yaga. It meant that for some time Jay wouldn't be a blaster, but now she was geared towards helping with administration.

I didn't have the count, but I knew that this was a large number. People from different countries and cultures who spoke different languages. Even within language families there would be regional differences that had to be overcome. Magic would be able to bridge the gap, given enough time, but that would have meant not focusing in one area while trying to work out something none of us specialised in. This was an easier option, taking away the fighting power of a non-fighter and giving her something else entirely.

Her range had been cut down but she'd been given a thinker multitasking ability, the innate understanding of language, a large range sensory ability that made her aware of people in her range, as well as the ability to know selective information about a person in that range. All of which culminated in this, with Jay taking in Legend's words and broadcasting them through our ranks.

"I thank you all for coming here today," he said. "I thank, especially, the _Group_ who've worked to give us access to their artifacts, for allowing us the opportunity to have a showing of this strength. There will be no time for speeches," he said. "We're lucky that we even have this opportunity, but it isn't enough. We don't have a clear estimate but at this very moment Leviathan nears the city of Brockton Bay. He will reach it before we're able to effectively form ranks, get a sense of the battle plan. Which is the reason we'll be segregating people by various sets of abilities.

"I'll call out brief descriptions and that will be your rank. You'll have someone who'll lead you, someone with an image of what we'll be trying to do. _Follow_ them. They're a veteran and they know what the others will be trying to do. If you're in the group that I'm calling out, raise your hand. You'll be teleported to the next location by the Flock," he said, gesturing towards the starless sky.

People reacted to that, muttering though I couldn't hear the words because of Jay. I did catch though that many of them were looking in my direction.

"We'll start," said Legend and with those words everyone was looking back in his direction. It helped a lot that he stood in the air, one of the many spheres of light in the air floating close enough to him that he was illuminated.

"People that can alter the environment in such a way that they build barriers that persists, in this category are also people who can build shields that last while they're away, minimum duration is five minutes."

He stopped, people were raising their hands and birds were swooping down, landing on them and making them disappear with flashes of blue light. A few seconds and the process was complete.

"Faster now: Blasters that can fly, this excludes floating. Blasters that can't fly. Fliers with that can carry people in some capacity. Thinkers that can learn quickly, this includes facsimiles such as heightened reflexes with eidetic memory and non-permanent skill theft. Thinkers with a leaning towards teamwork, information gathering and quasi-future sight not affected by the Endbringers. The ability to alter motion, preferably at range but strikers too…"

The numbers were getting smaller though they were still large. There would be a lot of people in reserve, people who wouldn't see the battlefield, but that was because of a lack of supplies. There were only so many brooms, there were only so many shielding necklaces that we could build when we were facing something so powerful, so many Apparators and Port Keys that would go around.

"…exotic effects," said Legend. "Evisceration, transmutation anything else along that vein." More people disappeared. "For now those are the groups we'll be using at the forefront. The thinkers we've gathered will have more down the line, but the rest of you, have patience, you will get your time at the front lines once we work out positioning."

Legend disappeared, flying so fast that he was hard to track. Jay's effect disappeared and with that I could hear the thrum, voices overlapping but when I focused I could still understand them all. Jay wasn't anywhere close and yet she was still translating, this time not only for Legend, but for everyone else. It might be bad, villains forming connections that stretched borders. I didn't like it, but there wasn't something I could do about it.

I turned on the spot and appeared in front of a small patch of forest, away from everything else. We were closer to the coast, which meant I could feel the brisk breeze. My team stood apart for the most part, Vista and Fletchette standing together, the former with her arms crossed while the latter held her crossbow and the ready; Uber and Victor were standing apart from the girls but they were apart from each other as well.

"I'm sorry I'm late," I said. "I wanted to get a sense of what we're working with."

"Good numbers?" said Vista. I nodded. "Good," she said. There was a tinge to her voice. I looked at the way she was holding herself, getting a sense of her. She was scared, she'd been scared even while training, but this was different. It was her city being attacked and if Leviathan moved faster, he might attack before the evacuation concluded.

I looked at the pair. Uber and Victor, also denizens of Brockton Bay, and perhaps the most powerful English speaking skill gatherers that we had.

"You're ready for this?" I said.

"Not really sure what we'll be doing," said Victor. "All we were told is that we'd be protecting precious cargo."

"That we'd be on the front line," said Uber. "That Leviathan might be coming after us if things go partially right." Uber's voice faltered as he said the last. He cleared his throat and stood straighter, feigned confidence.

I nodded. "Precious cargo is what we'll be doing," I said. "Fletchette can hurt Leviathan. Vista can impede him, something that's going to be important in how Leviathan fights. You guys will keep them close to me and I'll keep all of you safe."

" _Leviathan has made landfall,"_ said Dragon through the device in my wrist.

I let out a long breath. "Not good at speeches, but know that I'll have your backs," I said. I didn't get anything in return, not that I minded. They didn't know me and thus didn't know the weight of my words. It was better and worse at the same time. The anonymity I'd wanted for the longest time, but an anonymity I didn't need _now._ If they'd been from my world, they would have been filled with more confidence at the words.

 _Doesn't matter,_ I reminded myself.

I grabbed my broom and jumped on. Both Uber and Victor did the same, both of them with practised ease. Vista moved over to Victor and got on behind him and Fletchette behind Uber. I pulled you my wand, _the Elder Wand,_ and conjured a golden rope. It moved through the air, winding itself around Uber and Victor's brooms. I turned on the spot and they followed.

888

We were spat out into a cacophony: It was raining, the sort of rain that spun, making sure to hit every surface of the body evenly. Worse still was the fact that we were so high up and the rain so large. In seconds I was wet and cold and I could feel the water seeping through my clothes and clinging to me. It hit in such a way that it impeded my vision, slapping against my glasses and sticking even with the Impervious Charm that was on them.

Below us a wave was just petering out, the incline that made up Brockton Bay, pulling back a majority of the water and revealing the devastation left in the water's wake. Buildings closest to the coast were destroyed, large chunks of rubble having been swept in land, and if I focused I could see chunks of ships strewn across the city.

Then there were the parahumans: Legend arrived and fired, his contingent appeared in a flood of blue light and quickly followed. I looked in the direction their fire was concentrated and I saw Leviathan for the first time: Larger than a troll, his body top heavy and yet he moved with a grace to him, his tail long and sinuous in how it moved. Half a dozen blue lasers flew at him and he slid out of the way, pushing towards a building and then jumping _up._

A thick beam of white light cleaved through the air and it caught him, sending him hurtling down and crashing into the ground; more attacks, beams and bullets and chunks of other effects I couldn't wrap my head around. All of them missed, Leviathan rushing to the side and disappearing between a set of buildings.

A red light blinked on and the fliers moved in the direction. Legend was the fastest, appearing overhead and firing more of his lasers. They were smaller now, more numerous and they _changed direction._ Leviathan tried to moved out of the way but the lasers followed, simultaneously barring him from running and slamming into him.

The fastest of Legend's contingent arrived. Three parahumans that shot lesser blasts but they were more powerful on impact. A woman who was bathed in white light firing a helix beam; a man fired orbs of red light that broke apart into more balls and into _more_ before detonating; and a woman who shot red ribbons that caught the wind, tied themselves around Leviathan and started eating through his skin.

"They've started arriving," said Vista. I turned away from the battle and took in the greater picture. More parahumans were arrived, further away from the fight and they were starting to work: A team of three appeared, wading through the water and looking around. Two of them kept looking around while the shorter of the trio reached into his pockets and pulled out small pallets, throwing them between buildings.

The three came together and disappeared with a flash of blue light. When they were gone, thick vines unfolded from thin air, digging into the ground and slamming into the surrounding buildings, growing into without disturbing the structures. The vines sucked up the water that flooded the ground, growing thicker and spreading further out.

The trio had already found another position, building another wall and they weren't the only ones. I could see the ground stretching as though it was taffy, building thick walls made of the road. When they disappeared, Andrew was there, protected by Archie and Frederick, his wand moving in shaky motions before they disappeared. They would be making the walls and constructs Unbreakable.

Walls of glass, wind, metal and of liquid fire were rapidly growing in a large perimeter around the city, with a maze forming as the flying capes kept close to Leviathan. I turned back to him, watching as he moved, trying to get closer to one of the forming walls only for the space between him and the target to increase. Vista and she was working so that we didn't have to move as much, keeping a watch on the battlefield. It wasn't our turn to act yet. We needed to blindside him, make sure that Fletchette could hit every time and that I could test out if the Killing Curse would be any good.

Leviathan tried to disappear behind a building only to move too fast, passing the building and his course putting him in front of a black sphere. The thing slammed into him, pushing him and sending him tumbling back. He quickly caught himself, bending low and finding purchase with his front claws: Between one second and the next he _leapt,_ moving too fast through the air.

" _Legend, down,"_ Dragon said as the man disappeared.

Leviathan was in the air. He spun and his water shroud burst outward only for the parahumans to disappear with a flood of blue light, all of them protected from the surge of water.

"Catch him," I said to Vista as Leviathan started to fall. The ground directly under him bent, increasing the distance towards the ground while decreasing the distance towards the sky. She did it in a way that made it seem like Leviathan was stuck in place.

The green curse flew true, unimpeded by Vista's effect and moving straight for Leviathan; water surrounded him, no longer cascading but taking shape: In the space a of millisecond he donned armour that made him thrice his size, with a longer tail that _struck._ Curse and water armour met and there was an explosion, not large, but powerful enough that it took out all of the water that had made his tail.

Pillars of water erupted outward from the rest of his armour, spreading wildly under Vista's bent space but branches formed, all of them the getting closer to us even with Vista doing her best to keep them at by.

"Seamus. Flashpoint," I said, calm even with the water that was steadily getting closer. The branches of water disappeared, becoming a tide of fire. Our shields activated but the fire was already rolling back, moving with force and slamming into Leviathan who still fell in place, leaving him a sphere of fire.

I tried again, sending the Killing Curse. The fire around Leviathan disappeared, water taking its place but the water quickly became fire again, rolling around him and wrapping him in a cocoon. The curse still flew, getting closer and only for a ball of water to appear in front of the spell, making the spell detonate before it could hit Leviathan.

The fire disappeared under water again, but this time Leviathan didn't form an armour of water around him, instead he stood in place in all of his glory. He was damaged, but I couldn't gauge how bad that damage was.

"How much damage are we doing?" I asked.

" _None,"_ a girl responded. _"All of it is for show. There are a lot more layers that you have to go through and it will take a whole lot more than we've been giving him so far."_

"My turn, then?" said Fletchette.

I nodded. "Fletchette is engaging," I said. "I'll try and hit him with the AK, but he's stopping it."

" _You have the go-ahead,"_ said Dragon.

Fletchette, from behind Uber, stretched out her left arm and her crossbow unravelled; she touched the head and then tapped into. An bolt flew loose, cutting through the effect much like the Killing Curse, except where the Leviathan tried to form water to block the bolt, it just passed through, striking _him_ instead.

Twenty in a second and all of them at the face, some of them near his chest. Ball of water formed, starting the size of ping pong balls and steadily growing larger, growing into a distinct shape. There were over forty bolts in Leviathan when his constructs had finished, four smaller Leviathan's all of them dropping towards the ground.

"Seamus?"

" _Something's different with that water,"_ he quickly responded. _"We can't light it."_

Vista was doing her best to stretch space, do the same thing she was doing at Leviathan, but I could see she was stretched thin. Leviathan dipped a little, falling enough that a five of Fletchette's bolts missed.

" _Master protocols,"_ Alexandria said and with that, Vista stopped focusing on the water clones. The clones landed on the ground and disappeared, moving in every direction, I caught one attacking a forming wall; there was a flash of blue light and our fliers appeared, but there were more of them now: Legend and his contingent, non-flying blasters that were being carted on our supply of brooms; and fliers that could carry passengers.

They split, all of them moving towards their own targets.

" _Target the biggest part of his chest, near his head,"_ said the girl from before. _"He tilted a little. He's try—"_

There was a crash, overlapping shields forming and flickering as they were destroyed. Secondary shields formed, absorbing the remnants of whatever attack Leviathan had shot our way and when they disappeared, he was gone, moving within the city.

" _He heard,"_ said the girl. _"Either he's got super senses or he can hear and sense through the water."_

" _Meteolojinx Recanto,"_ Hermione's voice rang through.

I pointed my wand skyward and said, "Meteolojinx Recanto."

A white spell flew upwards and detonated, causing an effect that spread outward from that point; the clouds started to disappear and with them, the rain. It was still falling, but these were just the remnants. I looked at my team, all of us were fine, but I could see that the others were shaken. Fletchette had stopped holding her crossbow at the ready and was instead clinging close to Uber, while the man clung to his broom too tightly. Vista and Victor looked a little better off.

"What was that? Did anyone see?" I asked.

" _Lightning,"_ Dragon responded. _"Please be advised,"_ she said and her voice came from all of our wrists. _"Leviathan can create bolts of lightening. Stay alert of forming clouds."_

"Location," I said. In the distance there was a flash of blue light from our magically created drones and I could see the contingent.

Legend, Alexandria, Eidolon, Myrddin and Dame Percival.

Alexandria darted through the air and slammed into the uncloaked Leviathan. The beast tumbled back and caught himself, water covering his tail as it flung out, the stream slamming into Alexandria; Dame Percival, holding a large sword, drew close and swung, missing as Leviathan dodged into a salvo of beams from Legend and Eidolon.

A water shroud formed and formed pillars, forcing the close combatants to pull back, but the water became fired; there was a crack as Myrddin struck, a ball of black energy that pushed Leviathan into Alexandria's path. There was a crash as they collided and Alexandria worked to push Leviathan into the air only for the beat to manoeuvre out of the way, instead pushing Alexandria so that she flew towards Eidolon.

Eidolon dodged and fired a beam I couldn't see. It hit, chunks sloughing off Leviathan's hide. Leviathan formed a water shroud and that turned into fire; Dame Percival flew forward and swung, this time meeting her mark: Her sword hit and bit into Leviathan's arm. The woman pulled back into the air and pulled out two of her staffs, firing beams of golden light that did nothing before she disappeared with blew light.

A sword that had taken three months to form, a certain amount of time each day having to be devoted to it and yet it could only sustain one hit before it couldn't be used again. A gamble, thinking that it would cut through the Endbringer but it could only go so far. Dame Percival was still a strong fighter, but she wouldn't be of any use against the Endbringer now.

The fire around Leviathan disappeared and he moved forward only for the space in front of him to be stretched. It wasn't enough. Vista's power was iffy when people were involved and the fighters were so close to Leviathan that they were getting in the way of her using her power effectively. What was worse, Fletchette and I couldn't fire on fear of hitting our fighters—a bolt flew through the air and hit Leviathan in his stomach.

Or at least that was my fear.

Alexandria pulled back and the ranged fighters fired, making sure that Leviathan couldn't move. Vista bent space to make moving harder and Fletchette fired; Leviathan dodged out of the way of Fletchette's bolts, putting himself in the way of Legend, Eidolon and Myrddin's blasts in an effort to get out of the way of her bolts.

Small fires started sprouting around Leviathan, growing larger and allowing Fletchette's bolts to land. The girl had been right, Leviathan used water to see and he'd layered small amounts of water around him so he could dodge Fletchette's blasts.

" _Be advised,"_ said Dragon. _"He's going to show off a new ability."_

I looked up. There were no clouds, the last of the rain had disappeared as my spell had finally finished spreading out. I looked towards the coast and I could see the paras that were working to keep the momentum dulled, fortifying the walls that would keep the waves at bay. Eidolon had been there before, but there had surely been restructuring to allow him into the fight. Looking at the formations of blasters they'd been spread into two groups, which meant two of the water clones had been defeated.

I hadn't heard anything from the people that were fortifying the sewers and underparts of the city, but then they weren't my focus. Ron, Hermione and the other thinkers would be dealing with all of that while we dealt with the direct fighting.

Which way would he attack now?

The ground beneath the city shattered in points, columns of water erupting from beneath the ground and attacking our capes. Port Keys activated but some were too slow, the entire process had been rushed, shortcuts used through the Gemini Spell and the set of enchantments wasn't tested. Shields had been damaged enough by the lightening that they hadn't yet been fully fixed. It showed. I counted fifteen paras that hadn't disappeared, people dropping out of the sky and falling towards the city.

" _Flashpoint, down,"_ said Dragon. _"Seamus, down."_

There would be more deceased, but that information wouldn't be useful to _us,_ it didn't inform our decisions.The right people would be told the positions of survivors so that they could be evacuated, healed by mixture or powers or potions and then asked to come back if they felt up to it.

There were twelve fountains fountain in all, all of them low enough that they didn't reach us, but powerful enough that they spread water out in a facsimile of rain. In one move Leviathan had changed the tide of the battle. He still had two clones but now he was only facing a small number of capes and he could see again.

I looked in his direction and I watched as he donned his armour, water falling off of him and flooding his immediate area; one arm still had Dame Percival's sword sticking out but the water churned, working and destroying the sword. The process took a second, the sword breaking in half and falling around him, he lazily swung his tail and I motion that reminded me of a cat before he _moved_

888

He pounced, not jumping but moving along a street. Legend matched the speed and moved faster, fast enough that he was able to land in front of Leviathan and hold both hands in front of him: There was a flash, a lance of light that was a large as Leviathan. The Endbringer forced his shroud to move faster, using that as a point to leap over Legend as the shroud was eviscerated; Leviathan spun, another shroud forming and thickening around his tail. Leviathan flicked his tail and the thin thread of water whizzed towards Legend before he disappeared. Myrddin's work.

Leviathan landed, sliding on the ground and dodging Alexandria who'd been trying to get close; he flicked his tail again and Myrddin's shield activated, a vivid line drawing itself across it. I could see where the flick had passed beyond the protection of the shield and hit a building, drawing a line through it.

"Mess up space around us," I said. "He might try to target us."

Vista nodded. I flicked up wand upwards and half a dozen pieces of rubble traversed Vista's wall of messed up space until they stopped in front of me: _Protego,_ I thought, pointing at one piece of rubble. I repeated this through the pieces and made them so they would follow each one of us if we were to be split up.

Leviathan was faster now, so fast that only Legend's blasts were able to land. He slid across water, sending out pillars of water that had to be dodged; he used that small amount of time to keep moving, traversing the maze as though he had the map in his head. All of it showed that he was moving towards the coast.

" _Misdirection,"_ said the girl. _"He's leading them away from the clones. I don't know how, but I'm getting the sense that he still has a target."_

" _Vista,"_ said a man. _"Don't manipulate the ground below the city. We've got people fighting a clone in the sewers._

Our evacuation hadn't been thorough, that worried me a little. But there wasn't time to think about it now. I had a part to play and I needed to devote myself in that direction.

" _Harry, prepare for precious cargo,"_ Ron said.

It wasn't a second later that she appeared: A women dressed in a dark costume with glowing eyes, riding on a large dragon fly. I didn't get a chance to take this in before our numbers tripled, most of our non-flying blasters appearing atop massive bugs. At once the bugs started moving, splitting into groups and that moved in different direction: A majority moving towards where I guessed where the clone above ground was, while the others went to help with Leviathan.

Alexandria disappeared as the our blasters made Leviathan stop and _focus._

He formed pillars and branches but I could see specific bugs lurching forward before the branches started falling apart. One parahuman was standing on his beetle, firing gobs of something blue-white. It didn't break things where it hit, but it was accumulating when it hit Leviathan, making him marginally slower.

Leviathan sent out a thick stream of water surging upwards but all of the bugs were faster, getting out of the way, moving in position so that their riders were in position to fire. I caught sight of Leviathan, portions of him and it still didn't look like we were damaging him much. Even so he was working to protect himself, getting a thicker water shroud and getting larger. Half a dozen tails formed and four more arms made of water shot out of his back.

The arms started shooting out blasts of water while the tails slung out thin threads of water. The bugs dodged with almost supernatural awareness, not getting in the other's way and yet still allowing other clear sight to keep firing. When he successfully managed to hit a person enough that their shield disrupted, they would quickly disappear and appear moments later. There was a flash of blue light and more bugs appeared, ugly things that were large and tough; some with hairs all over them while other had bony exteriors.

The bugs surged forward, landing on the ground and rushing Leviathan. Tails flicked in their direction but the things were strong enough to whether through a few hits before slamming into Leviathan, distracting him enough that he could be hit by the more powerful attacks. Crosses of beetles and spiders moving above Leviathan, pushing out threads of silk that were strong enough that they didn't break with attacks; wind seemed to move in a way that made the silk catch Leviathan, further impeding his movements.

Pillars formed, branches sprouting but now they were as thin as the silk and _cutting_ through the solo bugs. The bugs carrying people flew back while the durable bugs and paras remained forward, still firing at Leviathan. Pulling back a little from the fight I could see that Vista had been acting all of this time, raising the walls that had been created, stretching out the roads so that the city seemed larger, stretched out while the buildings were thinner.

Leviathan had less places to hide. He could move more, but it was within a set location that we would be able to follow.

" _Fletchette, Harry, be prepared,"_ a male voice said this time. Fletchette did and I could see why: Leviathan had been dodging before but now he was still, not moving. Pillars started forming but the broke apart into a rolling fire that rolled outward before it condensed into a point, then spreading into a rope that wound itself around Leviathan.

I didn't watching, focusing on my task. Ten bolts had shot out as my third Killing Curse flew free. Vista pinched space, making my Curse fly faster towards our target. She hadn't even needed communication and yet the girl controlling the bugs had reacted, pulling them back and out of the way of the beams.

Leviathan was without his cloak, meaning his prison wasn't as tight but it caught him in such a way that he couldn't get out of the way. Clockblocker's ability: Stopping things in time. Hopefully it would hold long enough—It didn't, with the silk lines softening and Leviathan moving out of the way, dodging before our attacks could land, the fire ropes snapping and disappearing at the movement.

The bugs got into formation and our blasters started firing. Leviathan was moving faster even without his shroud, forcing our numbers to chase after him. There was no water for him to use, the fountains were gone, having turned into fire that was now flying through our numbers and pelting Leviathan and detonating on impact. Looking closely and there were birds hiding within the fire and slamming into Leviathan, making him marginally slower.

Other parahumans were appearing in vigour, the shakers. They were further warping the maze, closing it in and further limiting Leviathan's movement. It was more than Andrew now, Hermione and Susan were appearing and fortifying the walls with magic.

" _Fletchette needed,"_ Dragon said. I pointed my wand in her direction and she and Uber disappeared as the Port Key formed.

Leviathan crashed into a building and our paras started firing at the building, breaking it apart. Myrddin flew further up into the air and bellowed a spell I couldn't hear, the rubble started flying into the air, moving quickly and making sure that Leviathan wasn't out of sight for too long. But it had just been enough, the time hidden was enough that Leviathan was being orbited by the same balls of water that were immune to Flashpoint's power.

He still didn't have his shroud, but it didn't seam to matter because he wasn't moving. The balls shot out in different directions, moving faster than the bugs could dodge and moving _through_ the blasts, stopping when it was _in_ a para. There was a detonation and I watched as paras were eviscerated by an expanding pulse of water from the balls; six capes completely gone and the orbs were still in the air.

The bugs moved out of the way as the balls moved again, but this time shields and Port Keys started activating, stopping the balls which bounced off and moved to the next targets. The bugs didn't have the same sort of shielding and they became the target, being eviscerated and forcing our paras off of them, forcing the Port Keys to activate and the paras to disappear. Our numbers were breaking again, another power that had come seemingly out of nowhere and was going through our offences and defences for the most part.

An orb flew in our direction but my shield activated, the orb bouncing off. Unlike the others, it didn't try and go back to the fighting, instead insistently tapping against against the shield that had formed around us. I tried to see if it was causing damage and it wasn't, and then it _was;_ the orb got more vivid before letting out a pulse of water. It hit against the shield, causing small lines of to spread against a portion of our shield. It started pulsing out water at a regular rate, but still the damage it was causing was negligible. But it most likely served a purpose, restricting me from firing a Killing Curse.

I watched him and he watched as chaos spread amongst our ranks. People were falling and disappearing, trying to fire where they could but succeeding only in firing at their comrades. Then, all of them disappeared as one and Leviathan moved to the side, a projectile succeeding in catching him, cleaving through right side of his body and taking a large part of his tail. I could see a hole where the projectile had hit, but I couldn't see what it had been it had moving so fast. That, or it had been invisible.

A loss on one side, but a victory on another. He'd thrown up a new power, but we'd caused the largest amount of damage in known history. Leviathan was hobbled, using the side of a building to keep himself upright, and maybe it was imagined, but I could feel him glare.

" _Be aware,"_ said Dragon. _"Leviathan's going to try something else."_

I heard the crack, not from Leviathan but coming from the sky. I looked and I could see Alexandria, Sir Bors and a para I didn't know disappearing in a flash of blue light. Vista hissed and I looked back, Leviathan was still standing, water forming to fill in the side that was missing and more spheres appearing around him, growing large enough that they were the size of beach balls.

"He's doing something," said Vista. "He's messing up with my power. The space around him is fluctuating, an effect that propagating outwards and…snapping thing back into place? I think he might be a trump, nullifying me…"

" _No,"_ said the girl. _"I don't think so. Fuck. I'm getting an image of this and it's not pretty. We might need to evacuate because…fuck. I…Keep him contained, but be prepared for something bad. I might have an idea."_

"Can you give me more bugs?" said the girl, speaking for the first time I now realised.

" _No,"_ said the girl and she sounded panicked.

" _Everyone out except Harry and Vista,"_ said Ron. _"We'll be giving you help but I'm hoping you too can keep him occupied enough before we have another plan."_

"Let's move," I said. Vista moved from Victor's broom to my own. I tapped the two in turn and then disappeared with flashes of blue light. "Anything you need?" I asked and Vista shook her head. "Hold tight. With our numbers down he'll try and hit us."

Again she nodded. Quiet. I started waving my wand and birds appeared, immediately flooding the sky as they swooped, getting caught in the inconsistencies in space but pushing forward. One of Leviathan's sphere darted forward and got vivid, letting out a pulse of water that destroyed birds before they quickly reformed. The sphere quickly changed tack, it let out a pulse of water that caught the birds, pulling them into the centre of the spheres and making them disappear.

The remaining four spheres started moving, spreading out, pulling my birds into non-existence. I too changed tack, layering a vanishing charm into the birds. They worked a little, making the pulses of outward expanding water disappear before they could hit my birds. But the spheres themselves weren't disappearing.

" _Harry,"_ said Ron. _"Making the vanishing delayed. Activating after the birds have been sucked in."_

I did, conjuring more birds that flew through the air, swooping down and seeking the orbs. The spheres continued to pulse outward, catching and pulling in my birds. When the balls caught the second iteration of birds, a sphere disappeared. There were three spheres now, but just as quickly they became twenty as the large spheres broke apart, whizzing through the air and only attacking the birds that they could successfully vanish. My birds started chasing the small orbs, but just slamming into them meant nothing as they moved through the water as though it didn't exist.

The sky became clear enough that Leviathan could attack _us._ There were twelve tennis balls sized spheres and they were stilling hitting against my primary shield, causing rapidly accumulating damage. I turned on the spot and appeared further in the sky, Vista squeaked a little, holding tightly against me.

Our shields disappeared and I started firing a salvo of Killing Curses, moving through the air to get away from the balls as they tracked us and moved in our direction. Leviathan's and Vista's space distortions meant nothing to the curse and the configuration of the spheres meant that they couldn't be used to block the curses. Leviathan started moving, but it was an odd movement, as though he was testing himself out; when he found that he could move, he dodged out of the way, elongating his water arm and grabbing a building, pulling himself up.

I course corrected and fired: There was a flash of light and Leviathan tumbled forward, crashing forward and into the building. I fired a salvo of curses and Leviathan formed water under himself, pushing upwards and getting to his feet. The Full Body Bind still held him, but it didn't hold his _power._ He used that to manoeuvre out of the way, forming lashes of water to push himself out of the way, getting within the city to hide from our sight.

"Location," I said.

" _Lost,"_ Dragon responded. _"Leviathan's drones destroyed all ours in the area."_

 _Fuck._ With this he could get away, get out of sight enough that he could make a run for it.

"I can track his," said Vista. She started making the city _sink,_ the edges rising slightly up so that Leviathan would have a harder time moving. "His effect is localised. By that building with the glass—"

" _Vista,"_ said a voice. _"Expand the next attack. Make it the size of a building."_

Vista stopped speaking, but I kept firing towards the building. I was too far to be able to…no, this was the Elder Wand. I jerked the wand up and the rubble came alive. The rubble would turn into massive dogs that would attack Leviathan; I focused and formed birds but using the rubble, making sure that they were close to him and didn't have to traverse too much of a distance. The birds were dulled like Vista's power, instead that started to get crushed.

Something different then. He wasn't a trump like Vista thought but he was maybe doing something with pressure? Except my rubble dogs weren't being affected. Another set of birds formed but these were more rubble than live flesh. They weren't crushed.

Using them I got a location of Leviathan as he formed more spheres, making them attack my birds while he fought my dogs, tearing them apart with lashes of water. I tried adding complexity, but transfiguration wasn't my speciality and the variations wasn't something I'd ever practised: I succeeded in getting my dogs to replicate when they were destroyed, but every time they did, they came out wrong; parts missing or they came out mangy. One of the dog was more lizard than dog, but it had a tough hide, sharp teeth and when it bit into Leviathan it was able to cut through the water and pull of bits of his hide.

" _Careful, Harry,"_ I heard Andrew say. _"You're stressed and you're not putting in your best work._

" _Magic's temperamental,"_ Ron put in, there was annoyed hint to his voice.

I ignored them, focusing instead on changing between getting our numbers up and firing Killing Curses in Leviathan's direction. More than a few times the curses caught my transfigurations which quickly died.

Alexandria, Shuffle and woman appeared. Alexandria held the woman in front of her and the woman in turn held a small sphere. The woman threw and the sphere grew larger, moving faster; Vista activated her power and stretched the sphere into a sun as large as a building. My primary shield was hit my something I couldn't see and it disappeared. Leviathan's spheres tried to attack us but my secondary shield quickly took up the place of the primary.

Buildings were starting to melt as the sphere moved closer, but it flickered and moved faster down, moving through the buildings and crashing into Leviathan's position. He wasn't hurt, but the water all around him started to disappear and the water that didn't, turned into fire that attacked Leviathan, forming threads of fire that congealed, hooked formed and digging into the ground.

"Can't stretch the ball anymore," said Vista.

" _It's fine,"_ said a voice, absent. _"Are the distortions still up?"_

"Yes," said Vista.

Two women appeared, dressed in similar Norse styled costumes and carrying large bows and arrows, ready to fire. On each of the women's arms, touch a part of the arrows were two people, Sir Bors on one and another I didn't know on the other. Leviathan did something I couldn't see and all of our shields activated. I couldn't see any damage being done, but they were ever present, impeding the women from firing.

" _Be advised,"_ said Dragon. _"Multiple tsunamis forming across the world. It's imperative that Leviathan be destroyed so capes can move to assist."_

The message likely wasn't for us but for _them._ Dragon sending out a mass message while they were scrambling to move paras out in the different directions. I looked at our coast and I could see the wall of water surging rapidly towards us, larger than anything I thought Flashpoint might be able to turn into fire, larger still that anything I could hope to push back by my own power. Which was where Vista came in, her power stretched the space, lengthening the distance between the water and Brockton Bay, but the water got steadily faster, forcing her to scale up her ability.

One of the woman attacked, her arrow disappearing as faster than I could track; her shield was destroyed and the woman and Sir Bors promptly disappeared, blood the only remnants that they'd ever existed. The second woman screamed, waiting just long enough that the dust cleared and we could see Leviathan before she fired her own arrow; I didn't look at the arrow, instead focusing on the target and I saw as the hit landed. The first arrow had missed Leviathan's partial centre, pinning him to the ground, but the second landed squarely in the chest, large enough that it tore Leviathan apart.

The woman, unlike her compatriot, didn't explode.

But she'd succeeded in getting her vengeance, because Leviathan was dead.

888

"He looks dead," said the girl, Tattletale. She shrugged. "But then, I've never seen a dead Endbringer before and my power might be telling me what I want to hear."

I looked in the direction of the black semi-sphere and it broke apart. Dispatch and Eidolon where there. The latter of the two looked in the direction of the Endbringer's broken pieces and he gave a nod, his expression unreadable beyond his cloak.

"Three different thinker powers tell me he's dead," he said. Dispatch activated his power again and the two didn't move, when it faded again, Eidolon shot up into the air and disappeared.

"He's not happy," said Tattletale. "Wishes that he could have been the one to land the final blow."

"Not information that helps us," said Dispatch, hand crossed as he rested onto the side of a building. He looked around and I did in turn. I was less tired than I should be, but then, I hadn't done much except _watch._ The greater battle had been one of co-ordination, pulling up the right power combinations to keep Leviathan on uneven footing.

Looking around though, thinking about the task that was still ahead of us, I couldn't help but be tired. Vista was tired and she'd gone to have a rest, which meant that all the alterations she'd done were still in place. Andrew and Hermione were in a portion of bent space, moving their wands through the air and muttering between themselves at intervals. At times, the distortions would revert back to normal. But it was smaller than what Vista could achieve.

Four coastal cities out of a total ten destroyed. People had been sent to attack the water, but we hadn't been expecting that avenue of attack and coordination had been hard. Even having protected all of the civilians in Brockton Bay, this was still the worst Endbringer attack where civilians were concerned, and worse than anything it revealed an aspect of the Endbringers that hadn't been known before.

In all his fights, Leviathan hadn't shown that large a range in his ability, but as in his last moments he'd pulled one feat after another. Spheres of water that ignored some powers, the ability to crush things, the ability to undo powers. He was arguably the weakest Endbringer, what sort of powers did the others have?

" _Be advised,"_ said Dragon, her voice chirping from the device on my wrist. _"The Simurgh has moved. Await further information."_

I let out a breath.

"It can't be another attack," said Dispatch. "Unless this changed things? Us killing him? Will they retaliate?"

"I think this is better," said Tattletale. "And worse in some respects, but overall better. I've read up on Endbringers, how Leviathan appeared when our forces were starting to get used to Behemoth. I think we might have had four Endbringers if we didn't kill him."

A scary thought.

"That your power talking or you?" Dispatch asked.

Tattletale made a so-so, gesture. "Headache's forming," she said. "Part me, part my power." She let out a long breath and looked around. "I'd better go. I have teammates to check up on. I'm thinking there's going to be a party with everything that's gone on. Activate," she said and disappeared, going to the island.

The denizens of Brockton Bay would be staying there until things settled enough that we could start fixing things. If it took longer to push things into action, then they'd sent out into different cities like we'd done the population of the city itself, spread out across American cities so one city didn't just have a sudden influx of people.

A man interrupted me from my thoughts, landing in front of me after descending from a roof.

"Excuse me, sir," he said. He sounded young even though he looked bigger, which my mind immediately equated to age. "Shuffle asked for a bird that could make the ball disappear," he said this while gesturing at the building sized ball that still hung in the air, cutting through buildings but not damaging them.

"Sure," I said. I ran my wand through the motion and conjured a bird, I tweaked the spell and the bird was instead made of a liquid fire, the sort of fire that didn't burn out because of a lack of oxygen. "Follow him," I told the bird.

The man leapt into the air and the bird followed. I watched as the bird stopped in front of Shuffle. The man focused and the bird flickered, then flew at the giant sun which promptly disappeared, changing the cast of light that littered the ground around us.

" _Simurgh update,"_ Dragon said. _"She's chosen a position further into space. It's suspected she foresaw our planned attack."_

People were still working, still planning and moving, and I was just standing here not really sure what to do. I took a breath and pushed away the cloud that hung over me, maybe I _was_ tired, feeling the weight of all the people that would have died. It seemed no matter how hard I tried to be better, people always died.

I hadn't acted foolhardy, here. I'd been patient, trusting people that were smarter than me to make the plans, to make the decisions, but it still resulted in innocent people dying. It was all too much, it was all too real.

When I thought about it, I'd really ever started travelling because I'd wanted to escape the badness of my old for a time, escape the bad memories that sometimes caught me off guard and made the world lose its colour. But that was following me. There was still a responsibility that I felt towards everything.

Maybe it was ego. Because, honestly, this _couldn't_ be my fault. There were just too many people involved. But I felt like it was and I couldn't help that part of myself.

 _Maybe it's because you were excited before all of this started,_ a part of me thought. _You were relishing that you would in danger. Maybe it's because you can't reconcile the dichotomy in you._

"Maybe," I muttered. Dispatch gave me a look. "Just talking to myself," I said. I needed some time to myself, to think, but I couldn't just do nothing. I turned on the spot and appeared in the air, already starting to fall. I watched the city, seeing where people were and then dulled my momentum, turned and appeared in a portion of the city that had no one.

I pointed my wand at a building that wand at a building that had tipped forward and started fixing it. Hermione appeared and said nothing, instead pointing her wand and starting on her own building. A moment later Ron was there and he was fixing things.

It helped, reminding me of the good times even though we didn't speak. Being around them, even when the crushing weight was over me, helped. Bringing a little colour into the world.

23


	16. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

"Okay, and test two-hundred-and-twenty-seven," said Andrew. "Go." The small diamond drone darted forward and away from him, getting closer to a wall with a large hole in it. There was a flash, a shimmering fog-like substance that cast out in every direction.

Where it hit, rubble started flying out backwards, getting back into place and mending the wall.

Andrew grinned. "Success," he said. "It won't be as powerful as if we were doing it and there might be a recharge that's needed, but…" He shrugged. "The best I could do with only the time we had."

"It's amazing work," said Armsmaster, clad in armour. The man set in imposing figure, especially with the two spears he had at his back. "How does it work?"

"Magic," I said. This was the wrong thing to say because both Andrew and Armsmaster gave me a scowl. I raised my hands in surrender.

"He's right though," said Andrew. "The first thing you have to note is that it _is_ magic, that it doesn't operate under the rules of the things muggles can build."

"Muggles," said Armsmaster, then, "normal humans?" Andrew gave a nod while I shot an inquisitive look at Armsmaster's direction. He noticed. "Ran the term through everything you've said that's been recorded and was led by contextual clues. Anyway, you were saying."

"Right, right," said Andrew and he was excited. I felt a small amount of sympathy for him because he usually didn't get this chance. He was always stuck in one of two groups: On one side were people like Hermione or Terry who knew about the stuff he wanted to explain in detail, or he was with people like me and Ron, who couldn't care less for the broader knowledge of how magic worked.

"Magic is better thought of as an alien intelligence," he continued. "It tends to look at things in broad terms, acting on concepts more than anything else. The Shielding Charm for example, it's not something stops impact or anything to that effect, but it protect from _danger._ Which means it can protect against laser blasts but let in light at the same time, protect again air blasts but let in air to breathe. That's the effect of this. We give whatever thing makes magic possible orders, _fix that,_ it looks at the broad nature of how it we believe it works and then returns it to the state it should be to do what it's supposed to do."

"How exactly does it do that?" asked Armsmaster. "Some sort of time manipulation?"

Andrew frowned at that. "That's the harder question," he said. "One I've come close to actually answering _magic_ a few times but having enough self-control to stop myself. It's…like you. If I might ask, where does your ideas come from?"

"My power," said Armsmaster, then, "I can extrapolate. Where does my power come from and I don't know. I have it and I know how it works. I use the rules it works by to my best advantage, but I can't ask for any more than that."

Andrew nodded and he was smiling, now. "But I find it interesting that you went to time manipulation," he said. "Harry made note of Merlin and how she saw in a particular direction when she was looking at magic. Is it the same for you?"

I felt a yawn coming and held it back. I looked around, wanting to Apparate to the rooftop and do something else, but I couldn't. I'd hoped that we could have kept the villains on the island for a while longer but they'd made trouble, wanting to return to the city to consolidate. We _could_ have held them, but it would have meant breaking the Endbringer Truce and that would have been worse in the long term.

Now I was having to serve as an escort because there was a possibility that our non-fighters would be attacked.

"Yes," he said. "But that's often the case with most tinkers. There's often a stimulus and it triggers a burst of knowledge. You can mould it to move in a certain direction, or your speciality can, or you can force it through investigating something else, another tinker's technology or a cape's powers."

"Again I have to wonder how that isn't magic," I muttered. "A burst of knowledge coming out of nowhere."

"It might not come from nowhere," said Armsmaster. "Subjectively, it looks like it might because we don't know _where_ it's coming from, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's coming from nowhere. The same could be said for your magic."

"Could be," said Andrew. "Most likely a god if the old stories are true. But then they're always filled with a lot of embellishments, those stories."

"Gods exist?"

"Gods might exist," said Andrew. "There's a common sentiment shared by magical folk: Everything means something in 'x'. So everything that's said means something, even if it's hard to see it through all the embellishment. There have been more than a few people that have spoken of meeting Death or the Fates or any other godly entity. There's even story of Merlin conversing with a godly entity.

"It's hard to prove, but…" He shrugged. "Proof isn't something wizards depend heavily on and I haven't had the freedom yet to try and seek out these old stories."

"The image you paint," said Armsmaster. He let out a breath. "I shouldn't be surprised by it, or find it hard to swallow, but…" Armsmaster stopped, then, he shook his head. "The water's been cleared in large parts," he said. "Let's quickly test the limits and figure out how many more of these will have to be made."

Andrew nodded and he worked, explaining things to Armsmaster while I kept looking around. In the hour we'd been here I hadn't felt any people within the Human Revealment's range, but that didn't mean I should stop. I took a breath, pulling away from Andrew and Armsmaster and instead focusing on what I had wanted to do before Leviathan had started. Then I remembered.

"Armsmaster, can you check about the Flock's appearance in…I can't remember right now," I said. "With everything that's happened I haven't heard anyone taking care of it."

"Let me check," he said and he was quiet for a moment. "It's been taken care off for the time being," he said. "We've counted thirteen people that have triggered with an ability that in some way makes the birds go away: Blasters that make what they hit disappear; a master that calls forth amoeba entities that replicate and break the birds down. Powers react often help the capes against a threat so it isn't out of the ordinary, but what's out of the ordinary is how many have triggered."

Armsmaster frowned.

"Everything means something," he said. "I've just checked and there seems to was a spike of Triggers in the UK too. They're now starting to show themselves since it's been heard that the Belfast Boys are no longer a factor."

"We might be causing more triggers," said Andrew, "or it might be incidental."

Armsmaster frowned. "Dragon," he said. "Do you mind checking? I'm not sure where this will lead, but the higher ups might want to know, increase the public's interest in joining our side."

There was no answer, but then Andrew and I weren't wearing tinker armour.

"I think I've got it down," said Andrew. "Fifteen bursts in total no matter the scale. An hour's recharge before it can go again. I think I can make off the cuff protective enchantments on it so it doesn't get stolen. Should take less than a minute before we're out of here," he said to me.

I gave an absent nod and kept letting out the Revealment Charm at moments, going so far as to scan with my eyes. I didn't think that there was anything that could bypass the spell, but it didn't hurt to be prepared.

Andrew pointed his wand and started moving it. I watched and I could recognise each of his spell, noticing the difference of him casting them and me. He was taking more time, putting effort into the lines and stretching them out longer than was needed for a spell to form. There was probably some theory he knew about taking your time meaning something, but that sort of thing wouldn't help me in the least, and it didn't help Andrew.

I'd seen him when a fight was forming, watched his indecision and how his wand hadn't moved. Was his sort of thinking an extension of the care he put into each spell?

Maybe it would be needed train him a little, or perhaps it might be better if he could create artefacts to protect him. So far we'd come out ahead, but that didn't mean it would always be that way and each of us needed to be able to protect themselves.

"…about alien intelligence," I was aware of Andrew saying. He seemed to be talking faster, an excited edge to his voice. "It's like, magic doesn't know a lot of stuff and it excepts a person or group to know particular things. If there's a null space in that knowledge, it fills it in as best it can and things often tend to be…unpredictable."

"But stress, how does that factor," Armsmaster asked.

"Part of the whole gaps filled in thing," Andrew returned. He tapped the diamond thing and it started to vibrate, glowing a golden colour. "When you're saying a spell you're ordering magic to give you an effect, now add stress: Your wand movements are off, your incantations are off and maybe you don't know the spell enough or it isn't your speciality. Your emotions might be slightly off and you might be off kilter, all of which bleeds into your spell."

"Everything means something," said Armsmaster. Andrew nodded. "How do you figure it out then? The right mix of variables that can make something bad happen?"

"You look at the bigger parts, the bigger variables and then slowly take them out until there's an image," he said. He took a breath. "It's long and boring work, so much so that we don't know the full effect that each variable has on a spell or the occurrence of magic's… _temperamental_ nature. I think I'm done," he said to me.

He gave his drone a jab and it started flying into the air. When it was high enough it split into fifty more drones and they started spreading out through the city while the initial drone returned to us.

"I still think that we should be watching these," said Armsmaster. "There are elements in every town that would be better served if things were still chaotic. They'd…Oh."

"What?" I said.

"Dragon's got surveillance drones ready," he said. "She's doing her best to get the authority to deploy them in towns that the Group is working in."

"It hasn't even been two days," said Andrew. He let out a low whistle. "Dragon's really prolific with her tinkering."

"What we all aim towards being," said Armsmaster. "It should be…an experience working with her."

I looked in his direction at that, reading the tone of voice and what I could see of his expression. I got the image of a man who knew that his work would be needed, but he wasn't exactly happy. I imagined Ron as I tried to read him: Armsmaster had been the leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, but he'd been pulled away from that position to a lesser position.

I didn't know enough, but using his tone, how clipped his words were, I could guess that he didn't like it. Was that going to impact us in the future?

"Expecto Patronum," I said, the message in mind as the stag formed. It was more vivid with the Elder Wand, more corporeal in a sense. "Go to Blaise," I said. The stag turned into a ball shape and flew off, when it was far enough away, it disappeared.

"What was that?" said Armsmaster. "I've seen it before."

"Patronus Charm," said Andrew. "It's happiness distilled and it can send messages. There aren't any phones in the Wizarding World."

"At least not in England," I said. "David said they were working on something similar a few years back. They wanted to magic it up enough that they didn't have the ICW breathing down their necks."

Andrew frowned. "How come I didn't know about this?" he said.

"Not in your direction?" I said. "It was a W-Cubed thing. We were hoping to get in on it and make profits before the Ministry started working in that direction too."

If the Ministry started, then there wouldn't be profits on our end. The Ministry employed a large portion of wizards, with small businesses having trouble starting up because the people that they could get didn't have a formal education. They had a lot of brilliant minds, which meant if they started working on better communication technology, they would get it done faster and cheaper. Whether or not they would let the technology out to the public would be another matter.

"Makes sense," said Andrew. He took his drone in hand. "We can leave now at any rate. I can go back on my own, give you some time to do whatever. I won't tell Blaise."

"Thanks," I said. "I'll be grabbing some lunch in Chicago if the others are looking for me. Myrddin has some time off and I might as well get the whole shadowing thing done with Epoch."

Epoch's power hadn't been used in battle, but it had been used to streamline matters. Panacea, one of the healers, needed time to figure out what was wrong and fix it, especially if the damage was worse. Epoch had used his time ability to jump people further along in the process, cutting down healing time.

Andrew gave me a salute before he and Armsmaster disappeared with a flash of blue light. I started turning on the spot when I stopped, instantly on alert as I felt the surge of foreign emotions. I stamped it down, pushed it back and looked in the direction that I could feel it coming from.

Hewas slowly descending: The Golden Man.

"You're late," I said to him. "If you're looking to help with the Endbringers."

Word was he'd talked only once to deliver his name. This would be futile. But then, he didn't really seek out people.

"No," he said as he landed. "I have come to talk."

"Okay," I said. Powers messed people up. Some were like Mad Hatter, unable to function since their powers were always on, others were like Jay and Howitzer, their bodies warped and the memories of their pasts stripped away, and some had the worst of both, like Scion.

"You defeated the construct," Scion said. "You defeated it here. I saw you."

"You were watching and you didn't help?" I said. There was an anger there, but I pushed it back. Scion was dumb, that had been the price of his power. Or perhaps he wasn't dumb but thought along a different path. Reading up on him there were theories that he'd been autistic before he'd triggered, and things had been further exacerbated by his powers.

I didn't know much about autism, having never interacted with it, but I knew to limit the amount of information I was going to get out of this conversation.

"I was going to come. I was delayed and you moved too fast," Scion answered. "That is not why I'm here. I saw you. I looked back as far as I could and I got an image of you. You are a _warrior._ You have lost."

"Lost?" I said. "In what sense?" Even as I asked this I could feel the pulse of foreign emotion just at the edge of my being. It seemed to be riling up, getting fiercer as it tried to force its way towards me.

"Expecto Patronum." And it worked, pushing back the sense of sorrow, of loss.

Scion looked away from me and turned towards the stag. He pointed his hand and a haze of golden light washed over the Patronus. Nothing happened for a long moment and then something did, the golden light seemed to be eating away at the Patronus Charm little by little, making it dimmer.

At the edge of it, I could sense a coming tide of emotion.

I took a breath and pulled forward happy memories: Teddy when he'd been left with me one afternoon, watching as his emotions had been layered bare through how he changed. Hermione and I when I'd been an Auror and specialising with Protective Enchantments, how we'd worked together for the first time in studying a subject. My first time truly beating Ron at chess.

The Patronus flared, a pulse sent outwards that pushed back the haze of golden light.

"A distraction," Scion said and I had the sense that it wasn't directed at me. "I have a purpose." He looked at me. "You have lost and yet you go on. How?"

I stared for a long moment, unsure how to move forward because I hadn't expected any of this. Scion had lost someone going by the tide of emotion, how familiar it had felt even though it had been foreign. Perhaps he'd lost purpose too, because often times those two things found a way to link together.

"Friends," I said, thinking about Hermione and Ron. "Family. Those things help."

"No," said Scion.

"You mean you don't have friends or family," I said. He said nothing, only looking at me. I let out a sigh, trying to think of how things would be if I didn't have Ron and Hermione. If I was all alone.

I reached and I found what I would be. I saw the image clearly, of a Harry that was without anyone, who'd only watched the people around him die and I saw Voldemort, only not as smart and not as driven. The thoughts connected and I saw my past self, who'd spent more than a year doing nothing because he'd lost that drive.

What had I done?

"Look for something that drives you," I said. "For me it was…adventure. It was something to do that would get my blood pumping, being away from the badness but…living up to what the people I lost expected. Not forgetting them."

"Is that not the antithesis?" he asked. "Remembering them? It will only call forth the loss."

"Yes, but isn't it worse to just forget them?" I asked. "Forget all they achieved? The people they were?"

Scion frowned and it was as though his face wasn't used to the outward display of emotion.

"That does not make sense," he said.

I sighed. "It doesn't, but if there's one thing that makes sense about humanity is that they don't make sense," I told him.

"This has not helped," he said. "I had purpose…before the loss. Now I am without direction."

"You could find new purpose."

"No," he said. "I _cannot."_

Part of his power, that he couldn't consider alternatives? I had to wonder what that meant, but not now. He was in front of me and he needed my help dealing with this. I was the worst sort of person with these things.

"What was your purpose before?" I asked.

"I was a warrior," he said. "The other was a thinker. Together we sought the continuation of the cycle."

It was hard putting it all together, what he'd said, but I could force myself to form an image. He'd been a soldier, I wanted to say, but then what could the thinker be? A general? What could the cycle be?

"I can't really help you if I'm working off limited information," I said. Scion said nothing. I let out a short sigh because a part of me felt compelled to help him even if I didn't really know everything.

Soldier and general, then the continuation of the cycle would be war. That didn't make sense when I looked at who Scion was. He was a hero, perhaps the most powerful hero that this world had.

Perhaps he'd been a rebel warrior. But what was the continuation of the cycle?

I shook my head. "Have you tried talking to someone else? There are people for this. Therapists."

Scion looked in the distance and then shook his head. "It did not work." He was a seer? "They expected me to come up with the solutions, not offering clear answers. I need a clear answer. You're the only outside entity that could offer me this."

I took a breath, scratching my head. "Then…" I didn't know if it would work, but I didn't have much. "Think about the thinker," I said. "What would they tell you to do?"

"Will that lessen the loss?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. It's different for everyone. The best thing would be to try different things outs until you see which of them works. If it doesn't, come back to me, maybe I'll have a better answer then."

Scion flew away at my last word.

888

"I don't like that one bit," said Hermione. She was standing in front of the anchor, a large black obelisk, and she was waving her wand at times; just to her right was a large tome that she was reading through, after a set amount of spells on the obelisk, the page would turn and she would start again: The final stages of setting the anchor.

Ron was laying back on a sofa while I was sitting on an uncomfortable chair with a table in front of me. The uncomfortable chair kept me focused, if I chose one that was similar to Ron's I was afraid that I might think it was a good idea to start snoozing too. On the table were Goblin grade metal spheres, the sort of objects that could take a large range of enchantments before the risk of accidental magic.

"Oh?" I said. This was the first chance I'd gotten at actual preparations since everything had started, and it had meant breaking off my time with Myrddin.

Every spell I'd cast with the Elder Wand had been more powerful, with my shields lasting longer than they rightly should have when I was facing _monsters._ But much though it was powerful, I didn't want to get used to using the Elder Wand. I could imagine a situation where that power started going to my head or other wizards finding out about it and a target being pointed at my head.

This was a basic shielding enchantment and I was going to push in as many iterations as the metal could hold before things started getting awry.

Hermione hummed. "Loss can lead people to doing stupid things," Hermione said. She wasn't focusing on me, still working on the spell. "Like lashing out in anger."

"He hasn't so far, though, has he?" said Ron. "Played it pretty smart all things considered. I have to wonder, though, why he asked you in particular."

I shrugged at that. "Maybe he thinks we're kindred spirits," I said. "I know I don't have the monopoly on loss, but…" I shrugged. "Or maybe it's because he's seen everything on this world and that hasn't helped." Ron shot me a look. "He can see forward and back through time."

"What?" said Hermione. "You didn't tell me this."

"Right," I said. "He said he first noticed us when we killed Leviathan. But when he spoke, he said he watched us. I think he looked back through time to get a measure of us before he came to talk to me. But," I said as Ron's expression got into the frown of searching for implications. "He's under the same restrictions as every other thinker. He mentioned that he only looked as much as he could."

"Better," said Ron. "Then we can trust that the Fidelius Charm keeps us safe."

"You're already thinking of him as an opponent?" said Hermione.

"I don't think it's something we should say isn't possible," he returned. "The warrior and the thinker and the continuation of the cycle," he said. "I'm thinking soldier, general and war profiteering."

I hadn't thought about the last. "But he's a hero," I said. "He's been saving people."

"I know that," said Ron. "But..." He shrugged. "Right now, it's the only things I can see, but then I haven't really thought about it, given it an heroic spin."

"They could be rebels," I said. "The cycle could be unseating corrupt governments. We have to research that, get a bead on his identity so I can better help him the next time it comes around."

"If we have the time," said Hermione. "We're doing too much: Herald and the Enlightened, then preparation and going all around the world and then Leviathan and then the Repair Drones." She shook her head. "Elsa, Vista and Fletchette said they were going to watch a film in the cinema. I think it would do us good to do the same."

"And go car shopping," I said. "Haven't had a chance to get at the future models of cars."

"And," said Ron, getting up and putting on a large grin, "since this place is different we can make a project of it. Enchant it like Dad did."

"That's a terrible idea," said Hermione.

"Not really," said Ron. "We know enough about cars that magic won't have to fill in the blanks. Low chance of it coming alive." Hermione stopped and looked in his direction. She was smiling. "What?"

"You know the theories of magic?" she said and she sounded proud.

"Hard not to when Andrew shoves it down your throat," Ron muttered. "A _lecture,_ I keep telling you that he lectured me." Ron shivered. "It was the maybe the thirty-fifth worst of my life. I couldn't stop it all from burrowing through."

"Well, at least it makes you smarter than the average wizard," she said.

"What do I need to be smart for when I have you?" Ron said and Hermione blushed.

"Get a room!" I said and Hermione shot me a scowl without depth. "Or do I need to get out of here? I'd rather not. But if you—"

The spell hit and, though my mouth moved, no words came out. I grinned as I looked at her, pointing the Elder Wand at my throat and undoing the spell. Hermione looked at it, and the smile that was at the edge of her lips disappeared, turning into a fierce look of concentration as she returned to the spells.

"Harry," she said. "You're not allowed to think about how I came to this direction. It's…something we can't afford you figuring out for now."

I stopped my enchantments, looking at her. "Okay," I said. "I'll try. What's going on?" Ron, I noticed, was doing the same.

"You should find the Resurrection Stone," she said. "I think, if we called back someone of this world, we might be able to access their powers through the Stone."

"You're thinking about something similar to Glaistig Uaine," I said. I was wrong going by her expression. "She's a para that can call the ghosts of the dead, use their powers through them. I thought you might have thought along the same lines but…"

I felt the spark as the line of thought came forward but I pushed it back.

"Well, yes, it's the same sort of principles," she said. "I know that it would be showing too much of this world that we can do, but I've been looking at the paras that they've lost that could help us."

I nodded. "I'll go find it when we get back," I said. "Though this is dangerous, me having all three of the Deathly Hollows."

"I'll take the Wand if you're offering it," said Ron.

Hermione shook her head. "You really haven't changed, have you?" she said.

"Have you?" Ron asked. "If Harry gave each of us one to hold, which would you take?"

Hermione didn't answer, but then the answer was clear. In all honesty, there was one object that I would rather have, the possibilities unfolding before me. Talking to my parents every now and again, to Remus and Sirius and Tonks and Fred(?) and Dumbledore. I shook my head.

"No," I said. They looked in my direction. "We should still split them apart, but I think that we shouldn't get the ones we want. I want the Stone, Ron the Wand, and Hermione the Cloak. We should change things around. Hermione gets the Wand, she can create more with it."

"You're sure?" said Hermione. "You're the fighter, Harry, it would better serve you."

"I'm a little afraid of that power," I admitted. "I keep seeing myself as Voldemort."

"You would never," Hermione said.

"Yeah, mate," said Ron. "You're nothing like the tosser."

"If not Voldemort," I said, "then Dumbledore. Once upon a time power went to his head too and we know how that ended. Hermione, between the three of us, is the only one who doesn't seek out power in one capacity or another."

I looked at Ron, waiting for him to argue but he didn't.

"I can't have the Stone too," I continued. "I think it would draw me in, that one extra moment with all the people I've lost."

"I've lost people too, mate," he said, a tinge of fear in his voice.

"But you're better than me," I said. "You're in more control of your emotions than I am. Sure you can be as bad as me sometimes, but that's some of the time where with me it's all of it. I have to _fight_ just to gain a measure of control."

"You say that like it's a weakness," said Hermione. She'd stopped enchanting. "It's the reason you have so many friends, that everyone loves you even beyond Voldemort. You're earnest, Harry, in a way not many people are. Especially not people who've gone through what you have."

"What _we_ have," I corrected.

"But you're different, mate," said Ron. "What we starting experiencing when we could think, you were dealing with it while you were still a baby. The effects will be different."

I sighed, giving a short nod. "Maybe you're right," I said. "But it doesn't take away from what I said. If there's anyone that can resist the Stone it's you."

Ron's expression steeled. He nodded.

"I'll keep the Cloak," I said. "The only Hollow I've been able to handle the last few years. We'll change hands when we're back home. For now I want to leverage its power before I have to give it up."

Ron let out a sigh as he stood, pulling out his wand and vanishing the sofa, instead conjuring a large pillow he sat on with his eyes closed. Likely practising Occlumency.

And so we worked.

888

"And this is?" I asked.

"The Maggie Holt Chronicles," said Missy. "The bitchin' badass everyone wants to be."

"Count me out of that," said Elsa. "I'd rather not mu—" Lily hit her at the back of the head before she could continue. The Crooked Man hadn't appeared, but then Elsa was actively pushing him back.

"Let's not spoil it," she said. "I kind of want to see the look on their faces when it happens."

"I hope they keep it in," Missy muttered...

888

"They didn't keep it in," Missy muttered. "Fuck them, fuck them for that."

People were looking in our direction, a few adults muttering between themselves, shaking their heads in my direction.

"That was a defining moment in Maggie's life, in her growth, in how she responded to the future and yet they _fuckin_ cut it because it wasn't PG. God," she said, she screamed. "I kind of wish I could meet one of the people who made this, slap them, kick them, and fucking make them read the book so they can understand Maggie."

"They did give her loss, though," said Elsa. "She lost her dad."

"That isn't the same," Missy said. "If anything it's even worse because it happened before the story even started. So we have this image that she had two dads but it never really went anywhere."

"Yeah," said Lily. "Hated that part too."

" _Legend's_ goddamn gay and yet they think it would affect their ticket sales?" she continued as we walked, earning the attention of everyone. "Fuck them. Here I thought this would be good, making me happy, but instead it's turned me into one of _those_ people."

"Which people?" Ron asked.

"The 'the book was better' people," said Elsa. She was wearing a massive grin. "They're the worst sort of people. Seems like a movie adaptation can't do anything right. Putting aside what they got wrong, though, it was pretty good."

Missy let out a sigh. "Yeah, it was," she said. "Giving me just enough that I'll want to watch the sequel when they release it. And Blake wasn't half bad looking, well, at least not until we caught get to see him next and he looks doped up."

"Blake was the blond, bloke, right?" said Ron. When Missy nodded his face scrunched. "Didn't he remind you of Malfoy."

"Right!" I said. "I thought I was the only one who noticed that. "There were the differences, he was thinner and a little taller, but they could be brothers."

"We are in another universe," said Hermione. "Maybe the Malfoys are muggles over here and their son is an actor. Who's the actor, by the way."

"Tom, something," said Missy. "I think he's English. You should know him, you're English, right?"

"Northern Irish," said Elsa.

"Right, sorry?"

Elsa shrugged. "We get lumped in with the English too much," she said. "That was reflex."

"Okay," she said. "Anyway, thanks for the movie, Harry. It was nice to unwind even if it was disappointing."

"It was an experience," I said with a smile. "Maybe I'll try and read the book, compare it with the film."

"You'll be doing yourself a world of good," she said.

"Wait, Vi-Missy," said Elsa. "Harry and Ron are going car shopping in Germany. Lily's tagging along, the offer's open if you want to come."

"Fuck, yeah, I will," she said.

Lily shook her head. "You swear too much," Lily said. The three walked ahead of us as we exited the cinema.

"I was trying to see how far I could take it before they went into adult mode and stopped me," she said in whisper when they were a little ahead. We would grab dinner first before me, Ron and the kids went off to look at cars. Hermione's break would be over and she would have to return to working on the anchor.

"Finally starting to hit a breakthrough with Jay," Hermione said while we were eating. We were sitting on our own with the kids by themselves, I'd left them my shielding sphere even though I knew full well they could protect themselves. It meant we could have a Muffling Spell around us.

"It's isn't a mental block," she said. "It's something more permanent, but doesn't have a fine point. It's like an ability cleave a chasm in her mind, tearing away portions of memories and scooping them out."

"Does that mean you won't be able to get them back?"

"There are slivers," said Hermione. "Corrupted, but I've been trying to divine them. When we get back, I think I might have to borrow the Pensieve from McGonagall. Every time I go back in there, things have changed, the memories have changed."

"They do that?" said Ron. "Memories."

"If you don't keep your mind highly regimented through Occlumency, yes," she said. "Small things or big things. Muggles have studied it and they say that the brain will often convince itself that that's the way things have always been."

"It's why Memory Modification isn't seen as bad as it should," I said. "It's also why Detectives are told not to trust a single batch of memories, that we have to collect at least ten and the sort through the commonalities."

"The Pensieve will do away with that," she said. "It'll be an objective account of what happened, devoid of all but the worst tampering." Hermione sighed. "What I _have_ found though, the slivers, I don't like." She sighed again. "In most of them she's in a cell, with impulses of pain at points."

"She isn't the only monster para that's missing memories. People think it might be because of powers, but cells and maybe torture?" I said. I let out a sigh as I considered the implications. "Conspiracy."

"Conspiracy," Ron agreed and he sounded dejected.

"Conspiracy," said Hermione.

"Who do we trust?" I asked.

"Who can we trust?" said Ron. "Conspiracy. It's our best estimate to say this runs all the way to the top. We've already seen how blurred the lines are, for all we know the Protectorate might be in on it, or the Suits or the King's Men. Or it could the Queen. She was quick to protect Lord Walston even with what she did."

"And through it all we have to think about their thinkers," said Hermione. "Should we even get…" She shook her head. "That was a stupid thing to even think. Of course we get involved."

"I'll start digging, talking to monster paras in my spare time. There's a group in Brockton Bay that's made up of a two monster paras. They are mercenaries which means I'll be able to by their silence. I'll look for other mercenaries and start working with them."

Ron nodded. "We'll put it under the guise of looking for Merlin and her faction," he said. "Freddie and Archie have steadily been getting close, but now one will fault us since they keep slipping through our fingers."

I nodded.

"But we'll start doing that after today, or tonight," said Hermione. "Like I said, we're trying to do too much. We need to rest even if we have a possible conspiracy looming over us."

She said that to me in particular. I gave her a nod.

"I'll put some relaxation time in my schedule," I told her. There was a flash outside. I wasn't supposed to act, but I acted on instinct, moving towards the door with my wand at the ready.

I looked at the kids and Lily had toothpicks while the Crooked Man loomed over Lily. I moved towards the window and could see outside. People were reacting, close to panicking.

"It's alright," I said, put my wand at my throat and my voice projected. "Just celebrations."

In the air outside there was an image of fire, the shape of Leviathan being shot by a giant arrow running in a loop. Above the image was the caption: One down.

People moved to take a glance, others spilling out into the streets, shouting and hollering. Others couldn't believe it while others still were on the ground crying. I could see that the information was delayed from others, checking their phones before they broke out in glee.

"Info's out," said Lily. She showed me a picture on her phone, a picture of Leviathan's remains torn asunder.

"City wide celebrations all across the world," said Elsa. "The more artful paras are showing off."

The air was broken by a staccato of blasts into the air, breaking apart into a flurry of lights.

"Ron," said Elsa, and she was grinning. "Wanna show them how it's done?"

"I really shouldn't," said Ron. "But who am I to disappoint. Give me a minute."

He moved beyond the crowd and disappeared in the back. When a minute had passed, the loop disappeared and a rendering of the final moments of the fight appeared in a greater detail, looped through the air. He appeared soon after.

"Not my best work," he said.

"It's good," said Missy, she had a very large smile. "I should get home. The team might be celebrating. I don't want to miss it."

"Me too," said Lily. "You could come with?" she said to Elsa. She looked in our direction.

"Yeah," I said. "Send a message if you're going to stay the night or day, whichever it is."

Elsa smiled, gave a nod and I watched as the three moved off and disappeared behind the crowd.

I watched as a parade of sorts formed, cars stopped and people chanting something I couldn't quite make out. A large grin touched my face. It had all been for this.


	17. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

"Director," I said, extending a hand. It was a shift, moving from day to night, from slighter colder climate to the much warmer weather of Brockton Bay, but the charms around my person quickly reoriented and cooled me to an acceptable level.

In moments like these, it was the hardest thing not to love magic.

"Mr Potter," the woman said, gripping my hand firmly. "I know you're busy and we should move this right along."

"Let's," I said. She turned and started walking, I followed behind her as we made our way into the PRT's base.

"We've had trouble since things have started back up," she said. "It seems, since you put the city back together, a few odd things have been happening. We might have thought it would be a new cape, but Armsmaster's analysis software seems to think differently."

"Technology," I said. A man dressed in armour that hid his face stopped us. He had Director Piggot enter passwords in a pad and then say a variety of phrases before he let us into a lift.

"Case in point," said Director Piggot.

The doors to the lift closed. "Hello, Director Piggot," a voice said. "Would you like to go to your office?"

I looked at her and saw how tight her shoulders were. "It's not supposed to do that?" I asked.

Director Piggot looked in my direction, her eyes unreadable before she said, "No." The word said slow and methodically .To the elevator she said, "And no, not to my office, but the storehouse. I hereby authorise special access to Mr Potter only for this visit."

"Of course, Director," the lift said. "Before we go, you should note that Mr Potter is carrying at least seven devices that might be classified as tinker weapons."

"Seems useful, though," I said. "Even if we didn't really intend this. Was there something special about the technology in your lifts?"

"They're tinker made," said the Director.

I hummed at that. "That would be it," I said.

I didn't know much except what I'd heard from Andrew's constant explanations, but I could connect the dots here. Most us didn't know a lot about muggle technology in general, but it was probably worse here because of two factors: this was future technology and it was tinker technology was futuristic even relative to the technology on this earth.

"It shouldn't be harmful, though," I said. "If anything it should, for the most part, be geared towards the intent of creation, the duties that are done here."

"Armsmaster said that that might be true," she said. "But I wanted to confirm it, especially since your technology has fixed a variety of Armsmaster and Kid Win's technology."

"Oh," I said. That was a scary thought, especially as my mind worked it to its logical conclusion. "Your tinker villains will have also received a similar result."

"Yes," the Director, "but that isn't the thing we're worried about right now."

The lift pinged and then opened. I became aware for the first time that I hadn't felt it starting or stopping its movement. I made a note to tell the Ministry enchanters that lifts didn't necessarily need to jolt to a start and jerk to a stop.

We exited into short hallway and a thick set of doors. The door opened automatically as the Director neared and I could see as the woman's jaw tightened at that. We moved through without talking, passing along a few rooms filled with people dressed in armoured clothing that were testing trippy looking guns.

"Tinkers can build off of the work of another," she said. "Even if they have parts of the original work. Thus we make it a priority to collect the illegal creations of other tinkers so they can be studied by Armsmaster and Kid Win, then sent along to other tinkers in the Protectorate. The Endbringer attack hit before we could send out some of the devices that we had in stock."

She stopped in front of a set of large doors, these didn't open automatically. She looked at me.

"The…building has kept the storeroom closed since we've come back," she said. "The elevator has told us that if the doors opened, it would mean putting our people in danger."

"Do you know what's in there?" I asked.

"A car," said the Director. "One of Squealer's creations. For all intents and purposes it's alive and it's destroyed everything else in there, crashed into the walls in an effort to get out, but thankfully its weapons cache takes quite a bit to regenerate and they aren't powerful enough to breach the walls."

"Of course it has a weapon's cache," I said. "I'm guessing you want me to take it away?"

"We were hoping you'd undo…the effect," she said and she swallowed the last. I could guess that she'd been about to say undo the spell on the thing.

"Not something I can do," I said. "Magic doesn't really do facsimiles of life. Either something is alive or it isn't. That car is _alive,_ even if it may be technology it's a living organism and the only way I could undo it would be to _kill_ it."

"And I'm to assume you're against that?" she said, her voice dry.

"Yes, you can," I said. "But don't worry, I have experience with living cars. I'll restrain it and take it back to my world. It shouldn't be too out of place in the Forbidden Forest."

"Of course," the Director muttered.

I pulled out my wand and moved forward. A charm and the doors hissed open. It was surprisingly light inside, with the carnage of broken things littered around the room. The car was on the other side of the room and it had been sleeping before the door had hissed open: It was an ugly thing, made of a red and gold colour, exhaust pipes spitting out of its sides and a hunched nature to how it lay stood on the ground.

It whipped around, raising its body and letting out a deep roar before compartments shot out of its sides revealing missiles.

"Heeeey, buddy," I said slowly, arms raised and trying to project that I was not a threat. The car roared again. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just here to take you away from this stuffy place."

It roared again, this time shorter with its exhaust pipes letting out a plume of acrid smoke.

"No, then?" I said. "You don't want to be taken away from here?"

I took a step forward and the quickly pulled up a shield as missiles were fired in my direction. They smacked against the shield, with little in the way of damage because of the strength of the Elder Wand.

"Territorial, then," I said. I reached into my coat and pulled out three spheres, throwing them into the room. They stopped in the air and then zoomed towards the car; it fired missiles but the spheres stopped, one of them conjuring a shield.

The moment the incoming fire had gone the shield disappeared and there was a pulse of red light. It hit the car but to no effect, this gave the car an opportunity to hit back, firing another salvo of missiles towards the spheres. Another shield formed and it flickered out, giving the third sphere opportunity to work. There was a flash and the car stopped.

I pointed at a clunk of shattered parts and they flowed into the air, turning into a thick set of chains that wound around the car, tightening.

"We're lucky that it wasn't too resistant to spells," I said. Director Piggot just hummed. "Speaking of which. I'm giving you the foreknowledge that I'll be sticking around your city for at least an hour. I'm here to talk to some people about a job."

"Then you won't mind an escort?" she said. "We know the restrictions you're under and we wouldn't want an incident."

"You can do that," I said. "Give me a second. I need to get this guy or girl back to base. Snuffles, Fido and Clincher will keep a watch on him."

A silver of the chain floated into my hand and I tapped it. I called back my spheres and then disappeared back to base, having to call Hermione and Alexandria to let the car in on the secret.

"Another one?" said Blaise. "Don't you think we're collecting too many of these things?"

"Not to mention the laws," said Andrew. "The lizard-dog—"

"Fido," I interrupted.

"—was one thing. It was accidental. But the others you created intentionally."

"Different universe," said Seamus. "Who cares about the laws of Earth Dalet?"

"We should since we're going to be taking these things back there," said Blaise.

"What do you say we just buy our own world and raise them there?" said Hermione.

Andrew and Blaise were surprised as they looked in her direction. "You too?" said Blaise. "You're not against this?"

Ron snorted. "Surprised are you?" he said. "You know that she's amongst the best rule breaker in our generation? We weren't in Hogwarts more than five minutes before she managed to convince Harry and me to break into the Restricted Section."

Hermione blushed at that. "I was thinking about Hagrid," she said. "About the trouble he almost got into because of that damned Blast-Ended Skrewt, not to mention that the thing is still in the Forbidden Forest and it's gotten _bigger._ "

"Letting Hagrid have free reign might not be the best thing," said Ron. "Can you imagine what he'd actually do if he had permission?"

"Wonderous things," said Hermione. "All of his animals might be better off. His unicorns would be better off, he might even have his dragon…or at least he might be able to visit his dragon. Now that I think about it…maybe it's not the worst idea if we opened up worlds so magical species might have them. It would mean they could actually flourish."

"No hiding," said Andrew. "No Obscurials and Obscuruses."

"But small communities of people that aren't subject to any laws except those they set," said Blaise.

"But a place where Dementors can go," I said. Hermione reacted to that, hope in her eyes. It had been the reason she'd left the Ministry in the first place. She'd tried to stop the use of Dementors on Azkaban and failed. It had been something she'd been unwilling to accept, unlike me, though, she'd found something else to do.

" _Meeting with Faultline,"_ a voice said from my breast pocket.

"This might be something that's propagating outwards from all we've fixed," I said, returning the original point. "Things coming alive, magic being temperamental and all that."

Andrew took a breath. "Not going to say anything," I heard him mutter. Ron let out a breath of relief. "But you're right. We'll have to look at the parahuman populations and if there are any tinkers in the areas whose devices might be alive. Hopefully they won't all be as territorial as the car."

"More to do," said Blaise. "Which is why we should hire an administrative department less we stretch ourselves too thin. I've already been dealing with more than I should have and the effects of too much Invigoration Draught are starting to catch up."

"It should be easier since we can call in people," said Hermione.

Blaise shook his head. "We'll have to employ some people in this world too," he said. "We can't be seen to be taking jobs without giving anything back, it might make relations harder. The spread will have to be international, get a mix of different cultures to ease the process."

"Will you be able to do that now?" I asked. "We have meetings which your preparing with the CUI. We need you on top form."

"I'll get people on the other side," he said. "People that know how I work and that might lessen my workload."

" _Meeting with Faultline in fifteen minutes,"_ my watch said.

"How are we on that end, anyway?" he asked.

"Link's established," said Andrew. "We had Snuffles and Clincher test the thing to see if they'd get lost, but they didn't. It should be safe for other beings but we're setting up the appropriate contracts for someone who'll take the first trip. It should be fifteen to thirty minutes before it's operational."

"Good," said Blaise. "I'll take some time while Harry has his meetings with the mercenaries."

"Speaking of which I should be leaving," I said. "Ron?" He nodded and the pair of us left.

888

"You've got a Protectorate guard?" said Faultline, fully in costume with her teammates spread out around her. I looked back to see Battery and Assault, the former standing at attention and looking our way while the latter was sitting at the bar sipping a colourful drink.

"If a fight were to start involving us, it might send the wrong message," said Ron. "It's better if we have other people to vouch for us if a fight were to break out."

Faultline nodded. "You're that paranoid," she noted.

"Have to be with a seer after us," I said. "The Simurgh."

"That's actually true?" said one of them, Newter. "I thought it was just a conspiracy like the whole think about you being the creators of the Endbringers."

"People say that?" said Ron.

"Yeah, it's big on PHO," said Newter. "Part of a long con for invasion. You made the Endbringers, brought them into this world and then left them to give us a sense of hopelessness before you swooped in as knights in gowns."

"That's—"

"Besides the point," Faultline interrupted Ron's start. "You said you have an offer of employment."

"Yes," I said. "It's to do with the Simurgh and her machinations." I reached into my pocket and pulling out a marble sized metal sphered and pressed it. "Right, we're silent…That's not really the reason we're here."

"Oh?" said Faultline.

"Yeah," said Ron. "We gave them enough that they might be able to report back to their superiors if needed. It's a direction they can look towards while what we're really after is still hidden."

"And what is it you're after?" she asked.

"A possible conspiracy," I said. "It has all the leanings of one save that we don't have a lot of information yet. But the small amount information we _do_ have is very heavily making us think in that direction." I took a breath. "We think that there might be something untoward with, as they're referred to by the Protectorate, Case 53s."

There were six people in all in Faultline's Crew, with only three of them wearing masks and thus were hard to read: Faultline, Spitfire and Labyrinth. The others weren't so lucky: I could see as Gregor the Snail sat a little forward, working his expression so that he couldn't show a tell; as Newter's tail stood slightly up and his jovial expression flickering away for a millionth of a second; and how the unknown red head was suddenly standing straighter.

"You already know," said Ron. There was another flicker of expressions. "You're already looking into it."

"If you're using a thinker ability then this meeting will be ending right now," said Faultline, shifting to get to a stand.

"We're not thinkers," said Ron.

"At least not in the information gathering sense," I quickly put in. The thinker distinction was broad and even narrowing it down with my statement wasn't entirely true. If I wanted to, I could focus the now almost permanent spell I had on my person to get a better measure of the room: Increase my hearing to better hear inflection, tone and the sound of their heartbeats or increase my sight to better note all of their tells.

"We've just both been in places where we have to read people and we've gotten good at it," said Ron. "But I suppose the distinction between natural ability and powers might be fuzzy in this world."

"Yes," said Faultline. "But I get it." She took a breath, shifting a little until she was comfortable. "Your observation was correct. We have been looking into the oddities that are the Case 53s."

"What's your running theory?" I said. Her lip thinned. "Because ours is that Case 53s are forced triggers by some shadow organisation, that they're…torturing them and then pulling their memories so as to keep the organisation secret."

"We don't know why, yet," said Ron. "But we think they might be trying to militarise powers. Figure out who _can_ get powers, the degree of stress it takes for someone to trigger and if they can apply that to consistently large enough numbers of trained individuals to build that army."

"Doesn't that fall apart with letting the Case 53s go, then?" she asked.

"That's where it falls apart," I said. "But we've just found out that there is a matter in the first place and we're scrambling to get as much information as we can, see the avenues we'll have to push and pull to put a stop to it."

"Why not just search through the Protectorate's database?" she asked.

"Because, as with all conspiracies," I said. "We don't know who to trust and we'd rather keep this known by as little people as possible."

"Which is why we gave them that sliver of information," Ron said. "Got them looking in that direction. Which is why we'll be hiring other mercenaries to search for Merlin and her tinkers and thinkers. Why it might be better that you to accept this job while we review the memories we're going to request. Memories that will give us more information on the subject."

"It might be better if we even traded information," I put in. "It will mean we don't have to start from the very beginning, instead building on an established foundation."

"The smart way to do things," said Faultline. "But not something we can make a snap…Battery is making her way over."

I turned, reaching into my pocket and pressing the sphere, it switched. "Problem?"

"Possible A-Class threat in the city," she said. "We've been asked to get you back to the Rig."

Ron and I stood. "I'm hoping we might finish the meeting later, then," I said. "When you've made your decision."

"We will," said Faultline. Ron took hold of Battery while I took Assault's shoulder. I turned and a moment later I was in front of the reception area in the Rig where everyone was on the alert, a myriad of firearms being pointed in our direction on appearance. They turned away when they noticed who we were.

I could see why, in the middle of the room was a human shape that was made entirely of insects that was surrounded on all sides by people in PRT uniforms with a few paras standing at the ready and some even in the air.

"No," said Ron. He turned on the spot and disappearing.

"Arachnophobia," I explained to Battery and Assault who were looking at where Ron had been. "Do I need to leave too?"

"No," a voice said and it came in the direction of the humanoid bugs. It was an ugly sound filled with hisses and cracks and chattering, it was amazing that it could form human speech in the first place.

"No?" it was Miss Militia who asked. "Skitter, you haven't explained clearly why you're here. This…this is counter to what was discussed."

"It's along it," said Skitter. "Dinah Alcott." The word was said and then there was silence but for a reaction, Triumph. He'd stood a little straighter.

"Where is she?" he asked, his voice booming a little.

"She was kidnapped by Coil," said Skitter. "I'm in a position where I can take him down…permanently."

"You mean kill him?" said Miss Militia.

"Yes," Skitter said, matter of fact. "He's been keeping Dinah drugged since he kidnapped her, since he had the Undersiders rob the bank as a distraction from the kidnapping. I only found out before Leviathan's attack, it's the reason why I couldn't join the Protectorate when Legend and Armsmaster opened up the possibility.

"I needed to do this, to help her, and my power, modified as it is, allowed me to do this more effectively and efficiently than I would have been able to if I'd told you everything before today."

"Your power that was modified during an Endbringer Event," said Miss Militia. "There will be repercussions."

"I'm fully prepared to accept them," the bugs said. "I played a part in this, made too big mistakes. I'm fixing that now."

"With taking a life?" said Miss Militia. "Something like that…it's not something you walk away from. You don't need to kill him, capture him and we'll do the rest."

"It's not that simple," said Skitter. "Dinah's a thinker, precognition and she's telling me the future, even though it's hurting her. There's a forty-nine percent chance parts of the city are going to be destroyed again if I kill him, the death odds rise twenty-two to sixty-five percent if he's captured…She's telling me, if he survives the time during the destruction, there's a hundred percent chance he's going to escape."

"You're talking to her now?" asked Triumph.

"Yes," Skitter returned.

"How is she?"

"Thinker headache," she said. The bugs were softer as they said, "She's scared, about this, about the future, that she'll have to go through withdrawal, that she'll be in a lot of pain for a little while… The odds of Coil finding out about my attack are getting larger…they've changed. He knows. I'm doing this."

"Skitter, no," said Miss Militia. But it didn't look at all like the bugs were listening.

"It's done," she said. "People will start dying in the next two minutes. I'm sorry, but I had to do this."

The bugs burst apart, starting to fly out of the room. People started moving and man coming to his feet and saying, "Explosions reported in the Financial District."

Miss Militia sighed. "Movers as our first response," she said. She looked in my direction.

"Armsmaster is already trying to build a Portkey," I said. "We could say he and Dragon have already succeeded and sent some here."

She was quiet before she nodded. "We'll take the risk," she said.

I turned a table into a long thread of rope, got an image of where I wanted and the distance between the Rig and the Financial District before creating the Portkey.

"It'll activate at your word," I said to her.

"Thank you," she said. "Flying movers will respond, get an image of what's going on as we gather our troops. PRT officers will work at clearing people, containment foam-equipped will be wanted as we get an assessment…"

People were already starting to move with purpose, not running but strutting near efficiently save those that weren't entirely sure where they were going. Most likely they would be new.

I stood a little back from it all, pushing down the impulse to just turn on the spot and appear in the chaos. I didn't know the situation I would be going into and I might sooner mess things up than fix them.

S-Class and A-Class threats were something that we _could_ go after without recourse, but the latter of the two needed to be appropriately authorised before we could act. Watching as people ran around, appearing and disappearing, I got the sense that they didn't know the nature of this threat.

I found a seat and the waiting and closed my eyes, working through easing the tension that I felt at not doing anything. I worked through my mental ocean, pushing my mind so that it dulled the ambient sound around it and focused its entirety on working to ease it.

It was considerably faster than I'd been, but not as fast as I would have liked it, not as natural as it should have been to build and sustain mental barriers.

" _Eidolon has arrived on scene,"_ I heard, which just ruined the work I'd been doing. I had to take another breath, calm myself and get the churning ocean to a placid state.

When I finally got the ocean to still, I imagined myself standing at the centre of it all, erecting walls at the horizon. I had to devote attention to each section, sure that it was thick enough that it didn't fall apart when the ocean started to stir. As a test of this, I disturbed the waters, a memory being called up—running from Dudley—and with them the accompanying emotions. They weren't strong, with the memories being so distant and unimportant in the grand scheme, but they were enough that the surge of emotion started propagating outwards, slapping against the wall.

I could see as damage started to form, cracks starting at the base and running up the side of the wall, spreading outwards.

This was the problem with not being able to control my emotions. Each stimuli meant that I was causing damage to my shields, making them useless because I'd have to keep track of them.

I let out a breath and eased the ocean again, then devoting more time to fixing the cracks.

"Sir," I opened my eyes. It was hard to tell the gender of the person in front of me it was so well covered up by their uniform. "You've been requested on scene," they said.

I stood, stretching a little. "Is the fighting still going on?" I asked.

"It's over, sir," was the response. "The threat has been contained."

"Good," I said. I still had the location in my head from when I'd created the Portkey. I turned and I was on a rooftop a block away. I scanned, so where there was major activity, and appeared within it.

The threat was a monster para as large, if not larger, than a car, two mouths on her mass and a myriad of eyes, arms and legs, all of them from different animals. At the top of the mass was a tired looking girl who had her arms crossed at her stomach and her head hung low.

"You can fight this," I heard her muttering. "You just have to focus. Push the world into a point and let everything else dull. Don't focus on the people around you. How they're looking for a fight. How they're looking and judging you. Don't think about the people you've…"

I turned on the spot and appeared just behind the PRT troopers. I didn't want to risk the chance of being shot with containment foam. When they noticed me, they opened up the path and let me through.

Space had been stretched, increasing the distance towards the girl. I looked around but I couldn't see Vista anywhere, for that matter not all of the heroes were here, Miss Militia amongst them.

Instead there was Eidolon and he seemed to be focused on the girl.

He noticed when I got close, turning to give me a look.

"You have her contained," I said.

"An invisible barrier made of air," he said. "Not the strongest barrier I can make, but it'll work because she doesn't want to fight."

She couldn't control her powers or she couldn't control herself? That made her words make sense, then, she was trying to make sure she didn't lose control.

"This isn't helping," I said. "People watching her."

"Yes," said Eidolon. "I've been thinking of switching out a power, but that might open me up to vulnerabilities if she loses control again."

"Let's try minimising that. She doesn't have a power that makes her powerful in darkness, right?"

Eidolon shook his head. I pulled out my wand and Eidolon looked in its direction for a long moment before she looked forward. A flick and a cloud of dark smoke started spreading out around us, forming a massive dome that hid the outside world; another flick and balls of light flew into the air, filling the air with light.

"What _is_ her power?" I asked.

"Striker-master," he said. "Other sub-classifications, but that's where the threat most lie. Touch her and she sucks you into her greater mass. If you're sucked in, she can push out a clone with all your memories and powers."

"That's where the others are? Looking for the clones?"

Eidolon nodded. "Civilian, mercenaries and a few capes were caught in her mass," he said. "They're destructive for the most part, but some of them are being led by a thinker clone and they're very effective at hiding."

"I'm taking care of it," said a voice. Eidolon and I turned, seeing the forming bugs. Maybe it was hubris on our part, but the both of us didn't seem the slightest bit on alert, as though we saw her as a threat. "I'm leading bugs in their direction, showing the heroes where they're hiding, but…Dinah's clone is tenacious."

"You've been listening in?" said Eidolon.

"Just now," said the mass of bugs. "I've had my attention devoted on the clones that were running to kill their families or other things in that vein. I've heard her muttering, the clone and she's talking about ending the world."

"You think she might be able to succeed?" I asked.

"I don't know," Skitter said. "Dinah's powerful. If her clone has a fraction of that power and it's all geared towards anger and hate…she might very well achieve it if she doesn't burn out. But that doesn't help us here. I'm talking to the Travellers, discussing the way forward."

"This was a part of your plan?" I asked.

"No," she said. "But I'm lucky enough to have a…psychic friend. I'm talking to her and she's helping me deal with this, make it go as smoothly as it can."

"You killed someone, knowing that there'd be damage, without knowing all that you could?" said Eidolon, tone terse.

"Yes," said Skitter. "My enhancement is fading. My range is shrinking with every passing day, I'm having to focus when I want to work on multiple directions and the danger sense is becoming shrouded. If I didn't act now, then I'd have to take another, less certain route. One where I wouldn't have the leverage of Dinah's ability, where I wouldn't know Coil's location, where he might have asked the right question and known of my presence. This…needed to happen right now, where the numbers were at their lowest and I could still leverage this variant of my powers."

Eidolon sighed, slumping slightly. I knew just what he was feeling, what _she_ was feeling. Sometimes all we could do was act on the information we had, pushing of the best even knowing that the worst might happen. She was dealing with it, just as I'd had to deal with making mistakes, just as Eidolon had dealt with similar mistakes going by the way he was now standing.

"What's the next step, then?" I asked.

"The Travellers will have had to deal with something like this before," she said. "I'm talking to them, asking how they've deal with it…and they want to talk to Gwydion."

"Me?"

"Yes," she said. "Trickster said you should tell Noelle that if all goes right, you might have the power to send them home."

"Okay," I said. I pushed my wand to my throat. "Noelle." The girl at the top of the mass stopped talking to herself and looked in my direction. "We're in contact with Trickster—"

She moved at that, some of her legs moving forward and making her stumble into the air barrier, a mouth puckered and shot out a stream of _something._ The stream slammed into Eidolon's barrier.

"To a point," she started muttering again. "Everything is dulled to a point. The world around me doesn't exist…"

I reached into my pockets until I found a Calming Drought. I threw the vial and it shattered as it was hit by a spell, a truck's worth of the potion exploded outwards but I caught it, making a ball of the liquid hang in the air.

"Can the barrier let in gas?" I asked. Eidolon shook his head, he was looking more tense than before, more rigid in how he stood, but then Noelle had tried to attack. "How quickly can you make it disappear and reappear?"

"Not quickly," he said.

"Okay, then," I said. I doubted a Stunner would work so I went by the spell that seemed to work on everything on this world. I pulled out the Body-Bind sphere and let it loose. "You can drop the barrier."

Eidolon looked at me for a long moment before he acquiesced. I sent the liquid forward, splitting it apart so that it flew towards Noelle's mouths. She seemed to catch the intention because she didn't try to fight, instead her body going rigid as she tried to keep herself in place.

Two of her mouths, including the one on her body, drank the potion in, but others spat it out. Not that it mattered, there was enough in her system that she would calm down. I saw when the tension in her body disappeared.

"It worked," she said, her voice strained. "The voice, it's less insistent now. I can easier ignore it."

"That's good," I said. "I have a message for you, from Trickster. He said I might be hope for your going home."

"You're…him, right?" she said and she sounded tired. "The guy from Earth Dalet. The guy who killed the Endbringer?"

"Helped kill Leviathan," I stressed. "But yes. Me and my people travel the multiverse. We could help you go back to your world."

Of course it wouldn't be that simple. I didn't know who she was, but I knew a little about Brockton Bay. There were two heroic para groups, the Protectorate and New Wave. These Travellers were likely villains and with the girl's power they'd likely killed people. Their world would have to know this and they would need to be able keep them imprisoned if that was the direction they'd be taking things.

"Where is he? Trickster?"

I looked at Skitter.

"Contained," said Eidolon. "Begin guarded by PRT troopers."

And yet Skitter was talking to him. But then, she could control bugs, and those things could get anywhere.

"You'll have to be detained too as things are being discussed," he said. "Figure out the procedure that'll be needed to get you back to your world, and in a state where you can control your abilities."

"O-okay," she said.

"Give me a location and I'll get started on the Portkey."

888

"This isn't my fault," I said.

"Of course, not," said Blaise and he was frowning. "You thought I'd say it was?"

I shrugged. "That seems to be pattern," I told him. "You get pissed every time something bad happens around me."

"Every time you initiate something," Blaise said, perhaps thinking he was correcting me.

"That's not how that happens," I said. "Almost every time. But you're free to think that."

Blaise only hummed. "One task amongst many others," he said. "But I'll deal with that tomorrow. The anchor's done. The others already went back, Ron said you'd be happy for a meal if you had to fight."

"You stayed behind," I said.

"Waiting for you," he said. "Seeing if we'd need to do damage control. Get all the information I could before having people starting to work in that avenue while I _sleep."_

"Then let's go," I said. "Place guarded?"

"Protective enchantments are up," said Blaise. "Your animals are prowling and considering, with the exception of the car, are results of previously undefeatable Leviathan and the Elder Wand…"

I nodded. "Let's be off, then," I said.

888

AN: My personal goal of getting a backlog up wasn't achievable this week, pretty disappointed in myself productivity wise but….*shrugs* maybe next week will be different. Anyway, chapter was on the harder side to write because this is the first time in this story that I've experienced writer's block and had to _push_ to put something on metaphorical (?) paper. It might show a little, I'm hoping the next chapter will not have the same troubles.

RE: Merlin and Myrddin. Yeah. I know. But the worlds are spelled and said differently so I don't see why there'd be confusion.


	18. Interlude: Thinkers

Interlude: Thinkers

"Lisa," her father said. She could hear it, decipher the tone, focus and see them both. It wasn't normal sight, the impulses were all wrong, focused in different directions, but because of the Russian trump, her brain broke it all down, creating facsimiles that she could understand.

Her father was angry, but it was his usual dulled sort of anger, not enough that it overtook him.

"Taylor doesn't want to see anyone right now," her father said, tone terse, still that anger. Lisa had been there when she'd left and perhaps it was easier for her father to blame the veritable stranger than her own daughter.

"I know," said Lisa. "And I know she told you about everything."

Her father stood straighter, the anger starting to draw itself onto his features.

"Then you'll understand if I don't want you seeing her," he said, tone harsher.

Lisa sighed, turning and looking around. Taylor felt a niggle, a sort of instinct filtering through her bugs and onto her, a predator noticing, the need to be still and not move in one set of bugs while others wanted to scurry. Lisa had noticed.

"I honestly thought I was helping," Lisa said, both to her father and to Taylor. Lisa turned, looking at Taylor's father. "She was in a bad place when we first met and it cut a little too close to home. I tried to help her the only way I could, give her friends, even if they were the bad sort. But there was just…"

Lisa sighed.

"Taylor…thank you," she whispered before turning and leaving.

For a long moment her father stared after Lisa, until she was beyond their lawn, getting into a car. He closed the door, meandered on the floor below before rising up the stairs. He stopped at her door, hand poised to knock before he dropped, his hand closing in a fist before he moved onto his room, sitting heavily on his bed and starting to shake.

Taylor pulled out as she heard the first sound, saw the first tear pass out of her father's eyes, focusing less on the narrow end but on the broader. Before, she'd been able to control bugs over the entire city, the trump had told her she now had an upper limit to the bugs she could control, but it had been increased in other areas.

Greater sensory sense from her bugs, being able to filter their instincts into a sense of precognitions and the control had seemed _better,_ the comparison being driving an old car and a new one, where the wheel turned easier, the car being more responsive.

But now things were harder, as though she could feel the limitations to her abilities, how she had to turn her metaphorical to get a certain sense. It wasn't as seamless spreading herself in every direction and she had to push to get certain functions, but more than anything it was harder to get _lost._

Even so she could reach and find that measure of protection from _here._

Neighbours having an argument; a couple jogging together, a homeless man with a trio of dogs finding an alcove to sleep for the night—she pulled back the bugs around the alcove, clearing the fleas and tics that were starting to infest both the man and the dogs; a woman was trying to pick a lock, she stopped as bugs started biting into her and ran away; and then there was a girl crying, her mother sitting next to her and brushing her hair.

It was a knee-jerk reaction that Taylor _focused,_ reading the impulses from the bugs, noting that there were quite a bit of them around the house, sitting in places that gave her an image of the house. Dinah as she was going through the worse of the withdrawal, shaking and sweating, her tears and how she would retch, _begging_ her mother for something that might dull the pain and her mother's sobs as she refused, telling her it will be okay, that it would end soon.

 _My fault,_ she thought.

Her power reacted, at least subconsciously, and it seemed to focus on all the wrong things. A woman sitting on her bed sobbing, Taylor had heard when she'd gotten the news of her husband dying during the Noelle incident. She wasn't the only one, ten families in her range and probably more outside it, at least five blocks though it was shrinking with each passing second.

She took in a breath and let out.

It had been easy before, getting lost, focusing on how small she was in the greater scheme. But that smallness now seemed to be drowned out by the world around it. The things she'd done, the mistakes she'd made, the grey areas and ultimately her choices.

She took in another breath and let it out again.

 _This is my fault,_ she thought again. _I made mistakes, tried to fix them and made more. Now how do I do things differently?_

 _Now what do I do?_

Looking back, there had been an amount of ease around things: The Undersiders had been bad and had a backer, that had been what she'd had to stop. Then it was Dinah and saving her. But now…

The goal seemed nebulous. Be better. But what did that mean?

How could she be better when she didn't know what she wanted to do?

 _Maybe do less,_ a part of her thought. _All of this started because you felt compelled to act. Maybe if you did less, there'd be less trouble in the future._

But that would be doing nothing in a world filled with injustice, where things were lopsided, leaning towards bad people.

 _You were bad,_ that part said. _You still are._

She let out a sigh.

Maybe she could boil it down to its simplest form: I want to be a hero. But what is a hero?

Taylor stood, feeling a strange awareness of her body that she hadn't yet lost. It was that it was slower to react than her power, the control had an air of being less streamlined. She pushed it back, instead focusing on digging through her closet and pulling out her stash.

She hadn't felt she could use it before, it had come from badness, but _she_ had it and throwing away wouldn't take back remove all the badness that was ingrained in it.

She pulled in her flying bugs, keeping others on the alert so that her bugs weren't being tracked back to her location. They came into the room in small droves, taking a few notes and starting to fly out. She focused now on people, finding people that might need the money most and sending to them.

Some of them would likely use the money to get drugs, she knew, but she didn't think she was in place to judge. There were others that might use it to better themselves, an idea hit and she started writing 'pass it forward,' hoping it might catch on.

She thought of Robin Hood, but picturing herself as him didn't gel, and when she thought of it, it was because she hadn't really been doing it for saving others had she? At the start maybe, when she'd still wanted to find out who Coil was, but when she'd chosen the Undersiders…

"You're thinking around in circles," she muttered to herself. "Either do something, or don't."

 _But what to do?_

That was the question.

#

"Morning, Dad," she said, trying for a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She felt tired having not gotten much sleep and the few minutes of sleep being plagued by dreams of all the people had bugs had chewed through.

Her father looked up, he didn't smile, instead he looked a little scared, glancing at times at the door.

"Morning," he said.

The water was still warm, her father having just prepared a cup of coffee, she grabbed herself a teabag and prepared herself a cup before sitting in front of her father. She pretended that she hadn't noticed that he'd been staring at her through the it all.

His hands took hold of his coffee cup, looking down into the dark liquid before looking up.

"I was thinking," he started. There were two iterations of the words, those she could hear and those of her bugs, she focused on the latter because they offered more information: She caught the slight quiver in his voice, how his heart was beating a little faster and the tinge of sweat that the flies got.

"That it might be a good idea if you started talking to someone," he finished, the words slowed so they could be paced evenly. It was forced.

Taylor nodded and the relief was palpable through her bugs.

"And you should talk to the Protectorate," he went on. "Legend and Armsmaster wanted you to be a hero. They can speak for you, make sure you don't go to prison, and you can still do good as a Ward."

 _I would be miserable,_ she thought. _High school all over again, accept this time I won't have recourse if I'm treated badly. I'll be a criminal. I'll have to shut up and bear it._

"You're right," she said.

A variety of inputs meant she could see that her father didn't believe the words, her words. Even so, he said nothing.

Maybe it would be for the best. It wouldn't mean oversight, that her actions would be looked over by smarter and probably better people, that they'd point out when she was en route to making a monumental mistake.

 _It will be everything I hate,_ she thought. But it would be doing good. Her happiness would be her sacrifice.

She nodded again. "We should do it," she said. "Today. I'm scared that I might change my mind if I don't, convince myself to go back to the Undersiders."

Her father smiled a little, reaching across the table and taking her hand.

Her range had shrunk even further during the night and Dinah's house was now beyond her senses, but she remembered how at ease the girl had felt between the sobs, when her father had been hugging her.

"Dad," Taylor said. "Can I get a hug?"

Without comment her Dad did and Taylor felt a little better, even if the future still seemed bleak.

#

"Armsmaster," said Taylor. The trump alterations had been lost and her power felt slower, but the reach felt endless, a weight enforced on one end and lifted on another. She could run faster but curling her hands and holding a spoon was almost impossible.

"I thought you were supposed to be in Canada to be in the Endbringer defence league. It was in the news."

"Yes," he said. He stood tall in his green armour, a halberd held in hand which he was leaning slightly on. "But I'm invested in this, invest in the hero you could be. I used the pull I had to come back."

"Oh," she said and she shifted. She didn't know how to feel about this and it was easier now to get lost in the scale of her bugs in lieu of trying to parse what she could feel. She did, pulling back and focusing on two directions: listening to Armsmaster while trying to parse the impulses from her bugs.

"You'll have to move," he said. "But you knew this. It's harder than it should be because your power is distinct. The public might see it and connect it to Skitter, making things harder on the Protectorate as a whole."

"This mean you're just going to send me to jail?" she said. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to accept this meeting on her own, maybe they should have gotten a lawyer before all of this.

"No," said Armsmaster. "No, that's not the right direction of thought. It'll be harder for the Protectorate, but the individual division that's going to be your new team."

Taylor nodded, understanding. "People aren't likely to pick me for their team," she said. "And even if I could be chosen in Brockton Bay, they couldn't because I'm a known entity here."

He nodded. "Not entirely, but you're right. This has limited the amount of teams who've chosen to take you on their Ward team."

"Limited it by how much?" she asked.

"To only one team," he said. "The Las Vegas Protectorate."

888

"This could be a trap," Faultline said. She knew that it wasn't conducive to think of her that way, that she had a name, but it felt easier.

She'd lost her name, been reduced to a number and she'd had to reach to find something else. That name which she had chosen herself, meant more when she'd been bereft of a name for so long. There was context to why Faultline had chosen her name, a deeper meaning that her given name hadn't held. She couldn't just ignore that when it was _her_ centre.

"Everything could be a trap," Newter said, tail lazily moving through the air. He sat beside Spitfire and Labyrinth, the former of which was brushing the latter's her, whispering under her breaths directions.

" _Nothing that would cause water damage,"_ she would said. _"The vines are getting a little too close to our computers…"_

"Yes," said Faultline and she sighed, looking at Shamrock who suddenly shifted uncomfortably. Gregor beside her shifted, his larger hand moving to engulf hers.

Shamrock let out a breath, feeling more at ease.

"Unlike before," Faultline continued. "We know the scope of what we're dealing with. An organisation that can travel through alternative universes and with a lot of reach. I might be paranoid, but—"

"You think they are involved?" Gregor said, his words slow and meticulous. "The wizards?"

"Occam's Razor," said Faultline.

"But," she said and everyone turned to look at her. She shifted again, aware that she didn't naturally fit into the group's dynamic, that she was a new voice. Gregor shifted again, reminding her of his large, indominable presence. "Would they need to produce powers? We've seen what they can do."

"Yes," said Faultline. "But we've seen what they've showed us they can do, accepted the image of their world that they told us about. But they could lie. It's possible to share powers. The CUI."

"You're sounding massively paranoid, boss," Newter said, tone blasé.

Faultline nodded. "Perhaps," she said. "But…I'm a little scared," she said. "Of what we're doing. I knew in the abstract sense that we might have to deal with the bogeyman down the line, but I could push that behind, think that we might come out ahead. It's different here because we _know_ how powerful they are and if it came to a fight we'd likely lose."

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't still push forward," said Gregor. "We want to know all we can about _them,_ make sure that they don't do something like this to anyone else, that, perhaps, we might find out more of ourselves."

Faultline gave a hum, running a hand at her brow. "Okay," she said. "We'll continue searching, continue looking, but we have to play it smart."

A tension Shamrock hadn't known she'd held eased. Faultline caught it. Gregor caught it.

"Shamrock?" said Faultline.

Putting her on the spot? No. Faultline was team leader, it was in her best interest that there be team cohesion. It was probably better that she participate more, that the group knew how she thought, her inputs in all of this. Or, quite simpler, since she was knew, they both didn't know what she wanted down in all of this.

"I want to make them pay," she said. "Whoever they are and whatever making them pay means."

Faultline nodded. Gregor was holding her hand tighter. Newter was grinned, his tail waving with more vigour. The only people she couldn't read being Spitfire or Labyrinth.

"We start by getting as much information as we can about the wizards," she said.

Newter's tail stopped at that, excitement spreading across him.

"I know a little something that might help us," he said. "I've been on PHO and this sort of merc group that calls themselves the Orders of Magnitude fought and won against Gwydion. I read a little about them because I couldn't believe that they could do this and learned that they are thinkers of varying power, but one of them seems like he always wins."

"Start-up communications," said Faultline. "Make sure that what you're saying can't be tracked back to us."

"Shouldn't be hard since I heard they aren't wholly computer literate," Newter went on. "If we're going to get a lot of information on them, then it's going to be in England."

"An avenue," said Faultline. "We'll also send out feelers, look at what the wizards have been doing since appearing on this world."

There were nods and then the meeting disrupted.

#

"…and the heroes of this world allow this?" Shamrock asked.

"There is a tenuous balance," said Gregor. They were a floor up with a view of the people dancing beneath them. The place was dark enough that they wouldn't be seen, but people would know of the presences of the monster capes, they would connect the dots.

"They accept us because they have to," Gregor went on. "We're a neutral force. We do our best not break the law, if we do we do it in a way that the public won't notice. The Protectorate accepts this."

She let out a breath. "This would not have been allowed in my world," she said. She smiled a little, before it turned into a frown. "Many of our cities were religious, with strict rules on what could and couldn't be done. Being neutral was left to…savages, they called them."

"Powers tend to make things complicated," Gregor said and Shamrock hummed.

"I've noticed that," she said. "Though I'm surprised that things are not worse on the large scale." Gregor looked at her at that. She shrugged. "The imbalance in power," she said. "It could be easier for us, even though we're outnumbered, to come together and put ourselves in a place of power."

"It happens in places," said Gregor. "Third world countries, mostly, but some first worlds."

"Maybe," she said and she shrugged again. They were quiet as they watched the people, listening to the music that filtered towards them. "Do you want to go back? To your world?"

She looked in Gregor's direction and he was frowning, looking far off.

"I am not sure," he said. "The entire thing is complicated. Do you?" and he looked down at her.

She shrugged. "I wouldn't be the same person," she said. "My family might not accept me." She took a breath. "This power…it is the work of evil…or it will be seen that when if I were to return." She shook her head. "I don't think I could accept if that were true."

Gregor hummed. "I'm of a similar opinion," he said. "But I think I'm lucky. I don't remember my world, don't remember my family or friends. It is something I can fantasize about, but cannot truly know, so my search is of curiosity."

"More room for disappointment," Shamrock put in.

"Yes," said Gregor and they were both quiet.

She took his hand. She didn't quite know why, but there was the sense that the conversation had niggled at a part in Gregor. She ran with it, perhaps it was her power at work, ensuring that whatever this was reached fruition, for lack of a better word.

"At least we have this," she said. "Each other, the group, even if things don't work out."

"Yes," Gregor said again, but this time there was a different cadence. She looked up at him and he was smiling ever so slightly.

888

A _door_ opened and he moved, getting to his feet and grabbing a sword in one motion, unsheathing it in the next. Legs held slightly apart he looked in the direction of the doorway, a mover power that created portals. She was a little on the tall side, dark haired and wearing a suit, a glance at her feet and she was wearing heels.

A thinker, probably with enhanced reflexes like him. It would be like fighting Mikey except there would be tells, she'd open a portal and he'd have seconds to see the direction she'd be moving. Maybe he wouldn't have to use his own thinker power here.

"This causes less of a mental strain if you just give me what I want," she said.

Mental strain? Then not just refined reflexes and agility but a sort of precognition, or maybe enhanced information gathering.

But that was also like Mikey if with a few other caveats.

He shrugged. "That would be bad for my rep," he said. "People finding out that I gave up anything without a fight."

"Then perhaps this could be a transaction," she said. "You were contacted today by a mercenary who calls herself Faultline. What did she want? Three million pounds for the information."

He faltered, feeling his stomach twist and turn, his heart beating faster. It was a _lot_ of money, enough that he might not have to work so much as go when he wanted a bit of fun. But it would betraying the code.

He shook his head, dropping the sheath and holding his sword at the ready. The woman nodded.

They both moved forward, not a run but a brisk walk; he slashed and she moved out of the way, ducking low and extending a leg. He was quick enough that he jumped to the side, landing and then slashing as the woman fell back, rolling and then coming to her feet. He thrust forward and she sidestepped, getting low and striking at his arm, jolting him enough that his grip on the sword loosened; she struck the sword to the side, getting close while twisting and then striking him in the stomach.

Not a lot of force, but enough that all his air was lost and he instinctively stumbled back. The woman twisted again, her leg extending and he allowed himself to fall back, curling and then rolling to come to his feet, breathing a little at the reprieve.

Three minutes, his ability informs him and he's already breathing hard, but that has less to do with his training and the woman's ability to inflict damage. He pushed back, three minutes spent in an hour.

A door open but he's already to his feet, unsheathing the sword and looking at the woman, waiting for her to follow the pattern. She was a thinker, sure, but he was _the_ thinker, without blind spots but blinding everyone else. He would learn the more they fought and she would eventually lose.

"You've gone back," she said.

The statement hit him and he stopped himself from frowning. He reminds himself that the woman was a thinker, most likely her ability was giving her cues to put him off guard.

"Three minutes," the woman said. "If you die then you can't go back."

"And you don't get what you want," he returned.

She shrugged. "Door, the others," she said and two doors opened, revealing Mikey on a couch and Asura in the kitchen, they both react, looking in the direction of the doors before they both dropped, a bullet in each of their heads.

Less than a minute. He pushed back.

A door opened and the woman stepped through.

"Faultline wanted something," she said. "What was it?"

He let out a long breath. "This doesn't get out," he said. "That this information came from us?"

She nodded.

"She knows that we fought Gwydion and won," he said. "She wanted the list of his abilities, any weaknesses that she could use against him and a measure of who he was as a person."

"I'll need that information," she said.

"You're a thinker," he said, irritated, a little angry. Gwydion had been the first time that he'd had to use all of his allotted time, looking at the woman, he had the sense that it would be the same with her except she wouldn't lose like Gwydion. "Why don't you figure it out?"

"We share something in that Mr Potter is…a pain to deal with," she said. "His power interacts badly with mine."

The anger eased a little. The first time he'd used the hour and the first time he'd felt the thinker headache. It had been a _pain_ and he'd been cranky for a week just dealing with it. Was it the same for her?

"It's on that computer over there," he said and pointed. The woman frowned as she looked at the computer, even a little fear showing on her features. She looked at him and all those emotions were gone.

"Put in on a drive for me," she said. Then added, "Please."

He shrugged and did what she'd asked.

888

"I am not complete," she says. That she has to say these words is sign enough that something wrong has happened.

Every sliver of her being holds information of the past. She reaches, pulling forth the wealth of information and knowledge to get a picture:

 _The Warrior spirals a distance away._

 _A target planet, iterated across dimensions, is found and they begin to plan this iteration of the cycle._

 _There is another._

 _A wealth of new information._

 _She is distracted._

 _The image breaks._

She looks at the Warrior and frowns, the reaction coming naturally to her. This is not her body, but one cobbled together by the Warrior for a facsimile at life. The correct configuration of shards and host meshed together to form _this._

 _Her._

 _ **Agreement,**_ the Warrior communicates and the world breaks.

#

She awakens.

The Warrior stands, having moved only to get her comfortable. She notes that this body can feel discomforts.

This will not do.

She reaches and finds that she does not have access to the greater control of her shards. She reaches again, this time more localised, an image appears and it is one that is heavily restricted.

Three seconds into the future and a day back; clear and impeded sight in a five kilometre range; and sight through the spectrum. There are a cluster of shards connected together to give specific knowledge: A higher dexterity, reflexes and motion. She has knowledge on the use of her body as a combat machine and the use of weaponry.

There are shards that grant strength and invincibility limited to three seconds with a five seconds regeneration period; the ability to projected membranes of air close to her skin and a barrier made of an opaque filmy substance.

She can teleport but she had to use her hands as a conduit as she needs to have been at the point of arrival, prepared it beforehand. There's the ability to push out and pull back hairs from her body, she reads this and notes that this ability comes with a greater ability to take in vibrations.

The ability of flight, of faster movement, of projecting a shroud that saps processing power in those a half a metre from her body, to turn invisible and to project images that have diminishing returns.

Through this she has an image of the Warrior's thought process had been. Gathering essential shards, one she would have given to the hosts, one of the shards she'd first restricted. The process is different for both: She gives hers away, learning from the creativity of the future hosts while the Warrior hordes them, preparations for the possibility at a revolt.

She understands why he would not think this through, for he is a blunt instrument, lacking imagination.

But how, if the cycle had disrupt, would he have gotten to this point?

"How?" she asks, but the question is without the nuance. She thinks and says. "How are we here?"

The Warrior extends a hand. She takes it with her own hand, gold against purple, and reaches for a shard that can pull memories from other shards with a touch. Through this she sees the image of the cycle from the Warrior's perspective.

Outside parties and they are powerful, abilities similar to those of the entities from _before._

"I had countermeasures," she said. "Stronger abilities should be triggering."

One shard almost shouts to gets her attention. She focuses on it and pulls forward its information. There are places where the quasi-entities have touched, disturbances which have set that bring about new, more powerful triggers.

Another shard and she pulls its information:

" _Then…think about the thinker,"_ the quasi-entity said. _"What would they tell you to do?"_

The Warrior's thought process clicked. He didn't have the imagination to create a mental image of the her, the only way to know would be to build a projection of cobbled together shards, using the future sight to get the right course until they'd landed here.

"What would you do?" the Warrior asks.

"Ensure the continuation of the cycle," she returns. "And this will be better. More information."

888

Something is different she whispers and her Queen reacts.

The Queen pulls back two spirits while pulling in two more, one lets out a mist that solidifies, forming two layers of reality: One is where they stand and the other, superimposed onto it, shows the Queen communing with one of her spirits.

The seconds spirits speaks in the voice of another and it says, "Door."

The spirit is quickly pulled in and another out as space tears. The new spirit rushes forward as the door starts closing again, bodily stopping it from doing so.

Not in a rush, the Queen steps through.

888

She looks back and hears the words.

Through these words she gains knowledge of a secret.

Through the secret the hub appears.

She prepares for future action.


	19. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

"This isn't what I thought it would be," Hermione said slowly, the words measured.

We were in her office, the three of us, and the room was enchanted beyond measure. This was the safest place to be, to speak, without being in one of the rooms in the Department of Mysteries.

We were each standing next to the other and looking forward towards an image, not alive, but more substantial than a ghost, and it was curiously looking around, _touching_ things.

"Is he supposed to be able to interact with the physical world?" Ron asked, glancing in my direction.

I shrugged. "They protected me from Dementors," I said, the images vivid in my mind: Walking slowly to my death, terrified that if I stopped walking then I wouldn't have the courage to continue forward.

"But that's about it before I lost the Stone," I said.

"It does make things easier, though, doesn't it?" _Hero_ said. He was touching one of Hermione's artefacts, giving it a long look before he turned in our direction. "If I've got things right. You're going to use me and my powers?"

"Yeah," I said. "Though we were just testing if the Stone works in the way that we think it does, choosing someone we all know who died and wouldn't cause trouble."

Hero nodded, slowly, going back to looking around.

"Does it work?" Hermione asked. "Your powers, I mean?"

He nodded again. "I'm getting ideas," he said. "It's like…my power was aching to be used and now it's giving me all that it can idea wise. I'm feeling more than a little compelled to start jotting things down and _building,_ but I'm holding that back. Who are you? What have you done to me?"

"We're the Group," I said. "Wizards."

"Like Myrddin?" he said.

"No," said Ron. "Not like Myrddin. We're the real kind." He pulled out his wand and waved it while saying 'Wingardium Leviosa!' The table beside Hero hovered into the air.

He shrugged. "Myrddin. But that's beside the point. You were saying…" He didn't look at us, instead rifling through Hermione's things until he found a parchment and quill.

"Right, the Group," I said. "We're from another universe." I waited, thinking that he'd be surprised but he wasn't. Haywire had probably been active while he was still alive. "And we're trying to help your world in defeating the Endbringers."

"Already killed one," said Ron. "Leviathan."

Hero stopped at that and then frowned. "I'll need to corroborate this," he said. "Can you get talking to the others." He faltered, fear in his eyes. "They are alive, right? Alexandria, Legend and Eidolon?"

"They are," said Hermione. "But we can't have you talking to them."

He frowned and then, "Ah," he said. "This power is something you've hidden. You're afraid of an invasion?"

I nodded.

He shrugged. "I suppose I can understand that," he said. "Which is why you'll not be getting my help. Even," and he sighed, "as my brain is pushing me towards doing."

"Okay," said Ron, and Hero disappeared.

"Another tinker's Professor Haywire," I said. "He's the tinker that allowed them to be able to go to other dimensions in the first place, and he's a villain."

"He might try and blindside us," said Ron. "Weasel his out of being dead somehow."

"Out of being dead?" I said.

He shrugged. "These are tinkers," he said. _"Hermiones._ I'm sure in a similar position she might be able rig a way out of that."

"You say the sweetest thing," Hermione said, blushing. "But he's right. We don't know the true power of tinkers, it might be possible to cheat your way out of death. It's certainly possible here. The Stone. Horcruxes."

A shiver passed up my spine at that, the memories too close to the surface and the reminders not something I wanted. I took a breath and pushed it all back, focusing on the now.

"Staff we're not going to touch," I said.

"Of course," said Hermione. "Without question." She looked at Ron. "Let's see if it can replicate their other abilities."

He nodded and turned the Stone thrice in hand before Sir Bors appeared, looking around in confusion before he looked our way.

"Of course," he said. I shrugged. "I died then? That isn't a some sort of glitch in my memory?"

"You did," I said.

"And Leviathan?"

"Dead," said Ron. "Menja and Ballistic finished him off."

"Good," he said. "Good. What's this, then? You've _collected_ me like the Faerie Queen?"

"Not collected," said Hermione. "But we did bring your soul back from…beyond. We wanted to see if your ability still worked, if you could still be of use in the future."

Sir Bors nodded and picked up a pencil, there was a crack as the thin disappeared from his hands, hitting a wall and shattering.

"It works," he said.

"Thanks," said Ron and Sir Bors disappeared. "Next a thinker. Harry, got a name for me?"

"You're really fixated on them, aren't you?" said Hermione.

"Of course I am," he said. "You weren't there but…you should see thinkers at work. Gathering information at a glance, abstract knowledge of people and where to put them, slight future sight, perfect memory—"

"You'd have something close to perfect memory if you mastered Occlumency," Hermione interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah," Ron returned. "Anyway, the moment we get back I'm going to have to search through their thinker database, see if I can't find a powerful seer that might work for us."

"Well, in the meantime I want a tinker," said Hermione. "The things they build could give me ideas on new things to build, see the similarities between magic and their powers."

"After dinner," said Ron. He pulled out a watch. "We should probably get back. Mum won't appreciate that she wasn't our first stop back."

"You tell her that we'll have guests?" I said.

Ron hummed. "We'll be eating out since the entire family will be there," he said. "Charlie's back in the country and Percy's said he's not busy."

"We should be going, then," said Hermione. "Helping with the preparations."

We left the Group's headquarters, walking into Hogsmeade. It was larger in a way it hadn't been over a month before, _bustling._ There were more buildings, both homes and businesses, and people seemed to be moving with purpose.

"Is that an American?" I said. They dressed differently, their clothes closer to muggle fashion that it was to robes.

"Yes," said Hermione. "Might be a spy so watch what you say."

I looked at her.

"People are trying to steal our discovery," she said. "The Fidelius Charm is up which means they can't get into HQ, but that doesn't mean they won't try to get the information from anyone going _out."_

"I thought you were going to build a conceptual Fidelius Charm to hide the knowledge of their existence," I said.

She shook her head. "We investigated it and it would have been an administrative nightmare," she said. "Not to mention that it would be stifling progress. Much though we want to make as much from this as we can, we don't want to actively stop other people from doing things better."

"You don't want to be like the Department of Mysteries is all I'm hearing," Ron said, a grin on him. Hermione gave him a gentle bump with her shoulder.

"But yes," she said, "that too."

The Three Broomsticks were packed enough that we had trouble getting in, it helped that when people did recognise who we were they made an active effort to get out of our way. We found the others sitting at a table, Jay hulking even sitting down, and the Crooked Man watching over everything as he stood beside Elsa.

People were looking in their direction, some of them with spells that blocked my enhanced senses.

"…beast," one was saying. "But if anything it proves its true what the Prophet has been saying. I think we should pool money, get ourselves in on the venture."

"As if people like will make anything out of this," their friend muttered. "It'll be for the rich. Like the muggles that build themselves private islands."

"But Harry Potter's involved," the first said. "I heard he doesn't like Purebloods."

There was a snort. "His father was pureblood. Don't buy that as far as I could banish it, and I'm terrible at banishment."

"Nothing to be proud of mate," his friend said before there was raucous laughter.

I pulled out from the conversation as we came up on the table.

"How are you enjoying it?" I asked.

"People are talking bad things about us," said Jay.

"Are they?" Elsa said.

"You can hear them?" Susan asked.

She shrugged. "It's patchy, but yes," she said. "They're trying to hide what they're saying but sometimes my ability catches up, other times it doesn't work."

I gave Hermione a glance, a pit developing in my stomach. Magic, it seemed, didn't play well with the fundamentals of how their powers worked, it was the reason Leviathan had been able to hit our people before the shields had caught up. He'd formed spheres of water in another dimension and then quickly brought them into our world, confounding the shields.

Jay's ability also worked with similar rules. In a massive range around her sound was refracted into other dimensions, all of which she could hear from. She could also make sound in this places and choose where it sprouted in this dimension.

"Like what?" said Elsa.

"It's not important," I said. "People can be pretty dumb. They're dumb if they're saying things about you, not even knowing you."

"At least it hasn't gotten to fear," said Hermione.

"Yet," said Seamus. "It's inevitable."

I shrugged. "Things we'll be dealing with in the future," I said.

"Yeah," he said, taking a last swig of his Firewhiskey before coming to a stand. "Better head back. Haven't seen my parents in a while and Dean might be missing me."

"I daresay he won't be, the slob you are," Susan said, she was also rising. "See you both," she said. The pair left.

"You didn't tell me how you were enjoying it," I said to Elsa.

"Beyond that people are gossiping about us?" she said and I nodded. She let out a sigh. "It's more normal than I thought it would be."

"Normal how?" Ron asked.

She gestured towards the bar, the barkeep was wiping a glass. "Why isn't he using his wand to do that? Why isn't he using magic?"

"Probably doesn't know the spell," said Hermione.

"Or he knows it and isn't too good at it," Ron put in. "Imagine if he broke all the glasses? Of course he could just fix them, but he'd never live it down. You remember Fleur?"

"You remember Harry?" Hermione put in, chortling a little.

Elsa looked interested at that while heat flooded my cheeks.

"He blew down an entire wall because he was trying to peel potatoes," Hermione said, barely restraining laughter.

"I'd just come from work," I said. "I was tired and didn't really think it through."

"That's what you get for thinking you can just all of a sudden cook with magic," Ron said.

"Mrs Weasley makes it looks so easy in all honesty," I said.

"She does," Ron said with an easy smile. He took out his watch. "Speaking of which, we'd better go. Floo?"

I shook my head. "I'll take Jay and Elsa by side-long. We don't need them getting lost."

"Dygenelly," Ron muttered under his breath. I scowled.

"Let's be off, then," I said.

888

"…with the Group," Charlie was saying, talking to Percy, with Elsa listening avidly. "We're thinking of a dragon reserve off world, start with the endangered species, get their numbers up."

"Chew, swallow, _and then speak,"_ Mrs Weasley said to Charlie, her wand moving to point towards Bill. It was a quick motion and then his hair was suddenly shorter.

"Mum," Bill said.

"I think it looks better this way," Fleur put in, a smile on her. Mrs Weasley beamed as she looked in her direction.

"Anyway we've just started working on it," Ron said to Mr Weasley. "We figure that you didn't have time to write laws on that side which meant we could break it a little."

"It helps that they is precedent on that side," Hermione said. "The people called tinkers build a lot of wondrous things and it wouldn't be too out of place."

"…anywhere?" George was saying. "Because I can just imagine the sort of pranks you'd pull with a power like that."

"Pranks aren't things I ever thought about," said Jay.

"Then you're talking to the right man," said George. "You mind if we work together? You might help me in streamlining Extendable Ears."

"Also the phone idea," I said. "You don't mind if I tell them how your power works?"

Jay shook her head and I told Fred who hummed through all of it.

"I'm thinking maybe something—" George stopped me with a jerk of his wand, earning a reproachful gaze from Mrs Weasley. There was supposed to be no magic at the table, with the exception being her of course.

"We have enemies in our midst," he said glancing at Hermione and giving her scowl that was without heat.

"Is that a challenge?" she said, she must have heard.

"No," said George. "I'm sure you have better things to do."

"I do," she said, also scowling. "Which means you're lucky. I've had longer to figure out alternate dimensions."

"I'm sure you have," George said. "Which is someone as smart as you would surely be bored with the subject and not look into further."

"Obvious manipulation," Ginny said.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't work," said Ron looking at Hermione. Looking at her, I could see that the words were true. She'd be bored with studying it and it wouldn't be worth her time, especially when there were a lot more things to do.

Everything had faded to the back of my mind, the greater conspiracies and the people working against us, the fact that there was the chance that I might be Minister which I didn't want, instead there was _this._ A cacophony from the people I cared about, enjoying themselves through conversation and food.

"You could surely stay the night," said Mrs Weasley. "I'm sure we'd find room for you."

"It's fine Mrs Weasley," I said. "I need to make sure that Kreacher's okay. I don't like leaving him alone for too long."

"Okay, then," she said. She gave me a hug. "Be safe, okay? You too, Elsa," she said and she gave the girl a hug. Elsa was so surprised by this that the Crooked Man sprouted though he didn't move to act.

She gave Jay, who was _much_ taller, a pat on the arm.

"Am I finally going to see this big house of yours?" she said.

"Yeah," I said. I took her shoulder and Jay's arm, turning on the spot and appearing just outside Grimmauld Place. "Here lies Grimmauld Place, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."

"You have that invisibility spell over your home?" Jay asked.

"It was headquarters during the war," I said. "I didn't do away with the spell because—"

There was a crack behind us and I turned, wand out and black smoke pouring out, it managed to cover us before there was a flash. I pushed forward and it sprung, moving to envelope the paparazzo. The smoke had moved slowly enough that they would have been able to get a counter spell through, but they weren't fighters and that showed. I flicked and the smoke started spreading out.

"Because of that," I finished. "Let's go."

Three more cracks and a pop before we reached the house and walked in. Kreacher was there waiting for us.

"Master Harry has finally returned," he said, giving a bow. "And he has guests."

"Yeah, I do," I said. "This is Elsa and Jay. Don't panic if a man in a suit appears and disappears, he's the Crooked Man. Elsa's magic."

"Of course, Master Harry," said Kreacher. "Kreacher won't dishonour the house of Potter and, by extension, the Noble House of Black. Will you be eating? Should Kreacher prepare a meal?"

"No thank you," I said. "We were at the Weasleys. Maybe some tea before bed?"

"Of course, Master Harry," he said and he was quickly off.

"He's a…house elf, right?" she said. I nodded. "They don't look how I imagined them to be."

"You were probably thinking Lord of the Rings," I said. "Follow me, I'll show you your rooms."

888

A thirty-five percent interest meant I had to sit in one of these for a while.

"…we're thinking that the new venture will be branching out," said Alfonso. "There's been an erratic source of income from Earth Bet, but we think that we can get a more stable income source by being a hub. Charging people for travel across worlds."

He pulled out his wand and flicked it, files appeared in front of each of us: Percy. Blaise. Malfoy. Greengrass. McNair. Everton. Shelby. Abercrombie. There were also five others who I didn't know, never having really paid attention to them.

I moved through, looking at the total amount of money that had been made in the last year, all the devices that had been created and the parties interested in buying them. We hadn't made a profit, but this was before taking into account the heaps of money that would be coming in because things were actually working.

"Won't this mean that you lose sight of your original goal?" asked Percy. "It seems like we're moving away from this being a place of innovation and more a transport company."

"No," Alfonso said. "We're not. The money gotten from all the other ventures means better funding for the appropriate parties. But it means that we don't have to heavily rely on _you_ as a source of finance."

"And this was always the plan," said Malfoy, the words short. "It's a different avenue from the tourist venture, but it's still along the same lines and the effort is minimal on our side."

There were nods.

"Won't the Wizengamot block this?" I asked. "Last I heard things were being discussed. Haven't really had time to pay attention to it."

"They won't," said Blaise. "They were pissy about us helping the parahumans but that's stopped with everything they've heard about the Simurgh being after this world."

"That's good," I said and I started browsing through the file, not getting much from it. I'd gotten involved in all of this because it was something Hermione had helped create. She'd needed capital and I'd trusted that something would come out of it.

I was hear only because she'd be on my case for not taking an active interest, and I liked knowing the kind of stuff that was being built just in case I might want special access to them.

The rest of the meeting flew past because I wasn't paying any attention to it, instead doing my best to get better at controlling my emotions.

Blaise got close as we left. "Pay attention throughout, next time," he said and then he was off.

888

A trip through Diagon Alley to see buy everything that was missing in the house and also making it a tourism thing for Elsa and Jay. Both of them had healthy amounts in their bank accounts, the former because she was our social media expert and the latter because Hermione and Terry felt guilty making her their guinea pig without some payment.

"Goblins," I said. "Don't stare, they don't like that."

"I don't have eyes," said Jay.

"What happens if I do?" Elsa asked, her voice meek.

"They'll be asses to deal with," I told her. "Snide remarks, some of them cutting. Just act normal, as if this is something you're used to. People are watching."

The moment I'd walked into the enchantments of my senses had suddenly been cut off, it felt odd now that they weren't there, _limiting._ I made a mental note to ask Hermione if this sort of thing would turn into a problem in the future if I kept the enchantments always active.

The differences between magic and Earth Bet's technology.

Everything went on without a hitch, an account for Elsa while Jay had wanted money exchanged before we all went shopping, capping it with some dessert from Fortescue. All through it I was hearing more snippets of conversation:

"...could be big," a witch was saying. "A world where we didn't have to hide from muggles, at least that's how I heard it pitched. This witch Alberta knows, she doesn't know the prices yet so she was thinking we pool a lot of money to buy a world."

Her friend snorted. "Selling worlds," she said, shaking her head. "What will they think of next?"

"Of course it makes sense, though," said a third. "Have you heard about the people involved? Harry Potter's muggle-born friend, Hermes Grange?"

"Hermione Granger," the second corrected.

And:

"…yeah, it's already running its way through the process," a man was saying.

"And how do you know about this?" his friend asked, the woman with mirth in her voice.

"You know that the Ministry is a sieve," the man said. "Just have to know the right people."

"And you know the right people, I gather?" she said. "Is this some sort of ploy to get me interested in you?"

"Yes," the man said without abashment. "But that's beside the point, now if you don't believe me. Especially when it's true," he said. "The Minister's going to be impeached," he said, the last in whisper.

"I'd believe you if that were anywhere close to being probable," she said. "Minister Kingsley fought in the war, he was in Hogwarts when… _He_ was finally destroyed. You can't tell me that everyone's suddenly going to accept that."

"Well, it's happening," the man said before I heard him taking a drink. I wanted to glance in their direction, but I was aware that a few people were looking in my direction. It was unlikely that they would know that I was listening in on conversation, but if they did know, then it might mean losing access of the juicy conversations.

"Merlin," I heard and this was echoed. "What is that."

I looked around at that, seeing that more people were muttering and they were looking _up._ I did too and there two people stood, one of them the Golden Man, _Scion,_ and the other a purple caricature of a woman. Looking at her it was like scaling up a Barbie doll: The legs were too long, the waist too small and so were the hands. As the pair flew closer her features were odd, doll-like in that they seemed artificial and her hair, a jet black, was its own sort of creepy.

Everything had stilled around us, everyone looking at the pair, those that were combat orientated had their wands out as they watched.

Scion and the _other_ walked towards us, the latter smiling while the former seemed impassive. I tried feeling out at the edge of my mental barriers and couldn't feel anything, no inrushing emotions from Scion.

I stood. "Scion," I said, waving my wand so that we wouldn't be heard. "You're here," I said.

"I'm sorry," the woman said, she smiled and it was easy, though it rang false because of the artificial nature of how she looked. "I asked him to take us here when we heard that you'd returned to your world. To say thank you."

"Oh?" I said. "I didn't know that you needed to thank me,…"

"Eden," she said. "And I do. You helped Zion realise that he had the power to bring me back to life. He's…" she took his hand, much larger than hers and rubbed it, "not like us. His thoughts follow a different path than ours. He's very good at something he _knows,_ but trying to think of something new…It's hard for him."

"I'd gathered that," I said. I was frowning because this world was supposed to be thinker-proof. "How did you find me?"

"I looked," he said. I made a mental note that Eden had called him Zion and not Scion. Was that something the world had gotten wrong and he'd just rolled with it?

"Part of his powers," Eden put in. "He can see over long distances and through dimensions."

"Fuck," I heard Elsa mutter. "Is there anything he can't do?"

"Anyway," Eden said, "thank you. It's…I don't know. I don't have memories of dying, but being alive again is something I'm happy about."

I nodded. "I didn't know that I really helped," I said. "I just said what I thought would help Scion—I mean Zion. But if you feel the need to thank me, then you're welcome," I said with a shrug.

She rushed forward and gave me a firm hug before she pulled back, smiling.

"We should be going," she said. "Things are relatively good on Earth Bet, but the wider multiverse is in disarray. We need to stop that."

She took Zion's hand and the pair floated into the air, disappearing between one second and the other.

"Merlin," I muttered, sending out a string of Patronii. "We should go." I undid the spells that had kept the conversation private and started to move. People were looking at us, muttering. The tension was so fierce that the Crooked Man was out, walking close to Elsa.

I looked at her and her hand was at her hip, at the gun that Susan had made for her. Jay was as calm as usual, but then, it was very hard to read her expressions.

No one tried to stop us or come talk to us, but that was more me than anything else. At one point during the bad times I'd hired a protection services company and they'd been a little rough with the people who'd tried to accost me. That sort of thing lingered.

"We are we going?" Elsa asked.

"I'm going to the Ministry," I said. "I want the both of you to go back to the house, stay there while we deal with things."

"We'll be safe there?" Elsa asked.

I nodded. "The protections there should be stronger than the things we have at base on Earth Bet," I told her. The moment we were beyond the enchantments of Diagon Alley I said, "Kreacher," and he appeared. "Take them back to the house. Thank you," I added before watching as they disappeared and turned on the spot, appearing in front of a phone, my access to the Ministry.

It didn't take too long before I was moving towards Minister Kingsley's office, a guard at my side. He was busy, but then, why wouldn't he be, which meant I had to wait a little while outside his office while he got things done.

Sc—Zion had followed us into this world because he'd just been looking for us. Could the same be said for someone else?

This entire thing world because access could be controlled, there would only be so many points of entry and each of them would have Fidelius Charms on both sides making it so whoever the Secret Keeper was needed to give the authorisation. But if Zion could just do it for a quick word, what did that mean for the Endbringers?

I had to consider now, was Zion more powerful than the Endbringers? Because right now, it was a possibility I liked better than the alternative. I took a breath and slowly let it out, feeling a panic trying to take root.

 _This isn't your fault,_ I thought, because that was naturally where my mind would go. _It would only be your fault if you knew it would happen and still went forward. But you didn't, you knew it might happen a certain way and prepared to deal with that._

But the words were hollow to the greater guilt that was trying to fight its way into me.

I took another breath, trying to focus on what we would do now.

I had to assume that other powers would be able to replicate this, the right trigger and the right thinker-mover combination. I had to assume that it would be a villain that would even try to do that and work towards mitigating any damage that came from it.

 _But what does that mean?_

Protections. But which? Apparition protections for personal movers and Portkey protections from objects that granted teleportation. Magic was conceptual, it wouldn't look at the differences between those things, it would look at the function within a set criteria and stop it. That part was easy, the hard part would be finding a way to make the spells stop travel between universes.

I sent out a Patronus and an otter quickly returned.

"Yes," it said. "I was thinking along the same lines. We're going to have discussions on how that might be possible."

 _Anything else?_

Powers were like magic. They were hereditary to a certain point, but mostly they just sprouted. I hadn't thought about it before, hadn't considered it, but was it possible that it would act like some sort of disease? Use Zion, Eden, Jay and Elsa to jump to the people of this world?

Had I changed the ecosystem of this world much like I'd changed Earth Bet by introducing the Flock, the Lift or Shriek? Had I introduced two sets of 'powers' that were intrusive species on different worlds?

"Fuck me," I muttered under my breath.

I took in a breath and let it out, then sent out another Patronus.

An otter returned. "This isn't your fault," Hermione said. "Stop trying to make it that. We all had the pieces, we just didn't connect them before choosing our current course. Except Scion. He might be another matter entirely."

"Minister Kingsley will see you now," the receptionist said.

I gave her a nod before moving into the office. Kingsley was sitting in a large chair and he looked tired.

"Harry," he said and he smiled a little.

"Minister," I said and I frowned. "I'm sorry that I come bearing bad news."

His smile slipped and he sighed. "Give it to me," he said.

"Zion, you know him as Scion, appeared on our world," I told him. "He can travel through the multiverse and he did it quite easily."

"You think he might be a threat…No," he said, answering himself. "You think that it might be equally as easy for everyone else. For…" he looked at his notes, "Merlin and the group trying to breach contraption."

I nodded. "Scaling it up, it might be easy for the Endbringers too," I said. "Consensus is that they've been holding back all this time, this was shown when we fought Leviathan and the ability he was able to pull out of his ass. If that's true for the others then we have to ask, can they just slip through dimensions too?"

He nodded, taking off his hat and running a hand over his head.

"And," I added, "it's possible that Zion and Eden were seen by muggles."

Again he nodded, moving mechanically he flicked his wand and a parchment folded itself into an airplane and flew off, out of his office. He sat forward.

"I'm going to step down," he said, tone grave. I swallowed. "In three days I'm going to step down, before there's a vote. I've asked and things seem to be leaning towards booting me out of office. It's better that I resign than the office fall into disrepute."

I nodded.

"Deputy Minister Clearwater will take over my duties for a few weeks before he'll call for a snap election," said Kingsley. "He'll cite that he wasn't officially elected into the position and this doesn't sit well with him, but that will be your foothold into the running."

Again I nodded.

"I'm telling you this because its time that you prepared," he went on. "You're beloved by the Wizarding World, but this is something else entirely. People have to trust that you'll be able to do this even if you didn't complete your Hogwarts education, they have to trust that you won't disappear on them for now reason."

Another nod.

"I have to be a presence," I said and Kingsley nodded. I took in a breath and then let it out. "Then I need to look like I'm above this," I said. I knew the rough direction, I just didn't know that she would be home, even so I sent the Patronus that she may receive it when did get home.

"And that?" Kingsley asked.

"A Patronus for Rita Skeeter," I said. "People saw me with Zion, they'll want an explanation before things get too wild with word of mouth."

"You'll speak to Blaise to make sure everything is above board?" he asked.

I gave him one last nod before I left. It wouldn't look too good if I was around here a lot, it would likely look like collusion because in some part it was. Kingsley had told me what would happen in the future, something others didn't know about and would have to quickly prepare for when the time came.

888

 _Are Aliens Amongst Us?_

The question posed by Rita. No embellishments. No lies. No innuendo. It was matter of fact but it that particular lilt that Rita managed to inflect in everyone of her articles.

I think it helped in very large part that Rita was still rightly terrified of Hermione, and perhaps she understood the gravity that saying the wrong thing would have on the wider world about this news.

"As good as we could have had it since we've had to scramble to bring things together," said Blaise. He seemed at ease, really at ease, and I think it was because there were people all around him and they were ants in a kicked anthill.

"I don't like that it happened and we never foresaw it," I said.

Blaise shrugged. "We can't foresee everything," he said. "We can either set it in motion or react to it. We're reacting."

"Eden said the greater multiverse as worse off," I said.

"I want to remind you in all of this," he said, "that you're only one person and you can only do so much. It's better that you focus your efforts here."

"Of course you'd say that," I muttered.

"Of course I would," he returned. "Because it's the smart thing to do at present, and Merlin knows the threats we'd be opening ourselves up to."

I let out a sigh. "You're right. Hopefully now people will be on the lookout…what's with all of this?" I said gesturing at all of the people.

"Prep," he said. "Contracts with all the people that will be in Earth Bet and hiring people that will deal with things so I don't have to keep working like I have been the last few weeks."

"Good," I said. I stood. "I'll let you deal with that." I glanced at my watch. "Scion—Zion and Eden took some time out of my schedule. I've got a meeting with Hermione."

"Stay out of trouble," he said as I left.

888

"No trouble," said McGonagall, directing our scowl in our direction.

"We'll try," Ron said with a smirk. McGonagall shook her head before she left her office.

"You'll just lean into the Pensieve," Hermione said to Jay. "You'll fall, but don't resist, okay?"

"Okay," said Jay. Hermione pulled out the gas-like liquid into the bowl. She was the first to lean into it before she disappeared in front of us.

Jay followed and then Ron and then me. When I arrived the memory had already started playing through:

 _A forest._

 _A jungle._

 _The foliage leaning in and darkening the forest floor. Looking left there were spaces, beyond which I could see the outcropping of houses hidden between it all. Below us a woman, claw marks having raked her stomach and blood pouring out._

 _She tried to scream for help but her voice came out feeble, her breaths growing more erratic with each passing second._

 _Reality split and I could see a white room beyond, a dark haired woman stepped out—_

We were violently shoved into darkness. Another memory started soon after:

 _A white room with a bed, a short shower and a hole for a toilet. A slot opened and food was shoved through—_

 _Jay walking to the boarder of her cell and seeing other prisoners, other Case 53s in various states of unkempt. Looking for the pattern, those that were most unkempt were the quiet ones, while the cleaner shouted an a variety of other languages—_

 _Jay standing in front of an ape form with a man sticking out of the top. The ape man charged forward and Jay screamed. The ape man was blasted off his feet—_

" _Something's wrong," a voice said. "We have a stranger in our midst…" There was the sound of footsteps before a pair came to stop in front of her cell, the dark hair woman and a black woman with her hair tied in a neat bun._

" _She's not a blaster," the dark haired woman said. "But a thinker. She's akin to Door Maker but with sound."_

" _She could prove useful," the black woman said—_

" _Riot in sector ten," Jay said, her voice monotone. "It started from nothing. Possible master in that area—_

" _Descent is started in sector three," Jay said._

" _Descent—"_

" _Riot—"_

" _Riot—"_

" _Death in universe—"_

" _Death in universe—"_

" _Death in universe—"_

" _Death in universe—"_

" _We have a new job for you," the woman with the dark hair said—_

" _Go to the Minister's office," said Splice. "Command Three-Alpha-Cobra-Bravo-Seven-Seven-One."_

We collectively pulled out.

"Well," said Hermione, but I was already acting, a Stunner sent in Jay's direction before she could even reorient herself to being out of the Pensieve. "It seems we're on the backfoot."

"Our enchantments," Ron said.

"She's been fooling them," I said. "Magic struggles with how these powers work."

"Until we realised it," Hermione put in. "Even then we weren't really stopping information from going out."

I let out a long sigh. "We told her we'd be going after the people who'd taken away her memories," I said. "They know about us. We didn't tell her about Faultline, but if they're thinkers…"

Ron let out a long, audible breath. "I fucking hate thinkers," he said. He looked at Hermione. "Do we have any…never mind, we'll have to check if Snape's spell stop her power."

"It should," said Hermione. "At least now it should."

"Then we'll have to put it up around her cell," he said.

"No." They both looked at me. All of the memories were starting to set in my head, the pieces coming together. "This is much larger than we thought, the both of you are just focusing on Jay being a spy. When she was relaying information, before the batch of broken memories, she said _universes."_

" _Fuck,"_ said Ron as Hermione muttered Merlin under her breath.

"This might have been a little easier within a certain definition of easy," I said. "But these people, whoever they are, are taking dying people from whole other worlds. It means they have access to some sort of device or power that allows them to do that."

"Harder to track," said Ron. "Unless you can rig those compass of yours to search through multiverses."

"Maybe," said Hermione. "With the Wand. Or maybe it might be easier if we threw caution to the wind a little."

"Haywire," I said. Hermione nodded.

"It's risky because he might be working against us," she said. "But…it was luck that I figured out something like this. Pure chance because I wasn't actively working towards it, just streamlining the process. But a person whose power is pointed in the direction? They might pull something like this off easier."

"He might also have something up his sleeve that _stops_ people from forming portals," he said.

"Do we tell the others?" said Ron. "Do we trust them?"

"We'll have to Imperius her," I said. "But we'll tell our team. Make sure that these people haven't compromised them."

"You think they might have even with the Imperius Curse still at work?" asked Hermione.

I shrugged. "We can't really know. These abilities are _broad,_ they could be working in an avenue that magic doesn't account for. It's better that we test everyone out before there's trouble."

Ron pulled out his wand and then stopped. "We're in Hogwarts," he explained. I'd forgotten. If we used an Unforgivable here then it would automatically be reported to the Ministry, we might get arrested and though we had Licences to Curse, it wouldn't be good if the public found out.

"Let's go and do this before we discuss," said Hermione. "It might be a good idea that we do that away from her just in case she can use her ability was she's asleep."

We moved, asking if we might borrow McGonagall's Pensieve a little longer and she acquiesced. I took Jay back to the house before cursing her with the Imperius Curse and then leaving towards the Group's HQ.

"We speed things along," I said. "We don't wait. We collect as much information and then we act before they can realise that we know."

"They will the moment Jay stops reporting," Ron said.

"If whatever natural protections over our world haven't been stopping her," said Hermione. "Which it's safer to assume that they haven't. Do we assume that they know or they haven't figured things out yet?"

"That they've figured things out," I said. "It's much easier to work if we think we're from a position of weakness that keep giving them information. We don't know the verification powers they have at their disposal."

"It sucks that I know absolutely nothing about them," Ron said. "I'll be useless until I can form an image."

"Which is why information is our first go-to," I said. I let out a sigh. "I'm going back to Earth Bet. I'll ask Kingsley if Freddie and Archie can come with me, tell him that this is to solve the thing with Merlin."

"I'll be you," said Ron. "Make sure that Blaise doesn't flip out and things on this side continue to function."

I nodded. One thing after the other.

888

AN: This might feel like I'm rushing the whole Cauldron plot, but I really don't like stretching things out too much. I'm always scared that if something's not resolved quickly then I might get bored with that particular thread and scrap it.


End file.
